Ind vs Eng | 5th Test | Day-3

"What the hell were you guys up to on the field today?" Rohit began their post-win meeting in the nicest manner he could think of. And as no one responded, he continued, "One day. Just one day I'm not on the field, and you guys started chirping so much." He looked at Dhruv, Sarfaraz, Shubman, and Yashasvi, who were huddled in the corner of their room.

"Look, Rohit Bhaiya,"

"No. Jasprit, you are not going to start defending them now." It was Rahul Dravid. "This game is supposed to be a nice one; you guys were winning it anyway; there was no need for any sledging around. Really wasn't required."

"But it wasn't even their fault. Bairstow was the one who began the spat with Shub, and even that was about Anderson."

"Probably couldn't save his own ass." Yashasvi remarked. Though he had nothing to do with the incident, everyone knew where his 'allegiance' lied.

"Langauge, Yashasvi." Dravid warned him.

"Bhaiya, woh bohot uchal raha tha. Humne toh kuch nahi kiya." (Bhaiya, he was jumping around a lot. We did absolutely nothing.) Sarfaraz protested.

"Haan, Sarfu, but you are still supposed to remain calm." said Dravid, still on the 'stay calm' agenda, though he knew that the kids these days weren't ones to listen.

"Dravid Bhaiya, it really wasn't their fault. Anderson started it while we were batting. You haven't seen how he was sledging Shub?" Jasprit continued his defence.

"Jassi, what have these kids done to you?" Rohit sighed. "Since when did you start defending them?"

"I'm not defending them; I'm just stating facts." Bumrah said, defensively.

"You can't say such things to experienced players."

"Experienced," Rohit snorted.

"Rohit-"

"Alright, sorry, Bhaiya. Par ye log gaali waali bhi nahi diye na." (But these people didn't even curse.) Rohit now took the reins and started defending them.

"Yeah, and that Johnny boy ended the argument by saying 'full stop', pretty childish if you ask me." Shubman commented.

"No one's asking you, Shub. You literally asked him 'so what?', how was that not childish?" Yashasvi teased Shubman.

"Call it childish when I sing 'Johnny Johnny, yes papa.' to him." Shubman said in a sing-song voice.

"Johnny Johnny? Yes Papa. Making runs? No papa." Yashasvi finished what Shubman began.

That led to everyone in the room bursting out laughing.

"Nice one, Yash!" Shubman high-fived him.

"You guys have become incorrigible." Rohit sighed.

"It was just some childish argument, Bhaiya. Don't bother about it." Dhruv assured him.

"Yeah, but someone asked them to shut up and commented on his game." Rohit gave Sarfaraz a side eye.

"In Hindi. I'm pretty sure he didn't get a word of it. And moreover, whatever he said is actually true." Dhruv supported Sarfaraz because, how could he not? The boy was just very teddy-bear-like. Yeah, he could get really chirpy, but he's still someone who jumps over people and hugs them when he's excited.

"Dhruv, I thought you were the sane one." Rohit said, though he knew that he was very far from being the 'sane guy'. A key feature of the Indian dressing room is that none of them are sane, though each one believes to be.

"Yeah, the one who yells out 'Kay dayyyyy', 'bowling bowling beautiful bowling' after every single ball is definitely sane." Shubman laughed.

"And says to someone who just came to bat that he's the most consistent batter." Yashasvi added.

"'Tum bat dedo merko mai batting kar lunga.'" (Give the bat to me; I'll do the batting.) Sarfaraz quoted what Dhruv said to Bashir.

"Why have you three been ganging up against me?"

"None of them can tolerate their Rohit Bhaiya calling someone else the sane one. They're dying for your attention, Ro." Dravid pushed Rohit forward. He knew Rohit could get really shy and embarrassed sometimes, which made Dravid tease him even more.

"And Shubman Gill, you asked Anderson to retire?" Dravid questioned him trying to stifle a laugh.

"Yes, and my point still stands. He's done with 700 wickets. Now what does he want more? 801?"

"Shub is right, Bhaiya. Anderson is 41, budha hai woh." Yashasvi backed Shubman.

"Exactly. You should respect someone who is twice your age."

"And I respectfully told him that he should retire." Shubman sniggered.

"Rahul bhai, this is all Virat's doing. He is the one who keeps 'advising' such things to the kids. He even encourages them, you know?"

"Like you don't, Ro?" Jadeja asked him the obvious.

"Well-"

"If age and experience are what people need to have to qualify to sledge, then Rohit Bhaiya and Ash Bhaiya should be the ones to do it. Ash Bhaiya has played 100 Tests too." Sarfaraz said, pointing towards Rohit and Ashwin.

"Hey, keep me out of this, okay? I'm not at all involved." Ashwin immediately said.

"Yet you approve of this?" Rohit asked him, and Ashwin just shrugged. He knew the answer, but still wanted confirmation if he was on the kids' side. Honestly, even Rohit was on their side. Those 'baz-ballers' did deserve to be 'baz-bowled' at the end of the day.

"Rahul Bhaiya, look at me and tell me you don't find this funny." Shubman challenged Dravid.

"You guys are ridiculous." He sighed and finally cracked the smile he was holding back. Of course, he found it hilarious too.

"Ridiculously amazing." Rohit reassured them.

_________________________

Later in the evening, Yashasvi, Shubman, Dhruv, and Sarfaraz were all gathered in Rohit's room while the rest went to rest. Rohit wanted to rest too, but the kids decided to bother him for a while, so they took up all his space on the bed while he was sitting in between.

"Bhaiya, why do you never post us?" Yashasvi inquired. Yep, Rohit already knew the four of them were here with some agenda.

"He probably hates us, Yashu. It's alright." Shubman sniffled. Such a drama queen!

"Bhaiya, did you see our posts for you?" Sarfaraz asked him.

"Rohit bhaiya, you just don't love us enough, right?" Shubman continued his antics.

"Do you believe in the whole nazar thing, and that's why you're keeping us away from the public eye?" Dhruv finally asked a sensible question, and Rohit slightly nodded a yes. But Shubman as usual was in no mood to listen.

"Or maybe you really, like really, really hate us."

Rohit sighed. There was no way he was getting away from this, so he pulled out his phone and selected a picture from the gallery which included everyone.

"This good?" He got a big, loud, and collective approval from all four of them.

"Caption???" Shubman yelled into Rohit's ear, and Yashasvi thought about how he'd never have the courage to do something like that.

"See it for yourself."

'Garden mein ghoomne wale bande 😏'

"Bhaiyaaaaa," Shubman said, hugging Rohit, and all the kids joined him in the hug. Rohit lurched back a bit, but he wasn't complaining. And neither was he complaining about his precious sleep that he had to give up because of this.

He really, like really, really loved these kids.

A/N: I'm so in love with this Test team. Kept me sane and happy the whole month. Though Kushi137 deserves some credit for forcing me to write at times, I really, like really, really love writing about them.

I hope you enjoyed this! Thank you for reading! :) <3