'Mate, I see a lot of talent. Every AIS scholarship kid has tickets on himself. If I
don't break their pride, they will stay hoons for the rest of their life. Sportsmen
aren't movie stars, mate. Even though your country treats them like that.'
'But Fred...'
'You Indians have good talent, but the training - trust me on that mate.'
'We are only here for a week,' Ish sounded helpless. 'I'll make the week
productive. But today's lesson was important. If he isn't humble, he won't last
long,' Fred said, then looked at his watch. 'Promised the missus some time. I'm
off like a bride's nightie.'
‘Cheers!’ everyone cried. We clanged our dark brown bottles of XXXX beer, also
known as 'fourex' stubbies. 'Hi!' our server Hazel, too hot to be a waitress, hugged
Fred. 'Oooh...,' Fred's students egged him on after she left. 'No way, mate. The
missus won't tolerate me making eyes at anyone else,' Fred said. 'But you guys
are single. You must have pretty girls all over you in India.' Everyone looked at us.
'We don't have girlfriends,' Omi said.
'Why not? Indian women are hot,' said Michael, rolling his
'Too busy with work,' I said.
'Busy? Never heard a bloke too busy to root, mate,' Roger said.
Everyone laughed. Root meant, well, whatever. 'Check those honeys out,'
Michael said as four girls walked
in.
"The one in brown, she's ain't bad,' Michael said. 'NCR 5.'
'NCR 10,' Roger said.
'And the blue one?' Philip said.
'She's NCR 0. Bring it on, man,' Roger said. Everyone laughed.
'What's NCR?' I asked as there was a whiff of maths in the
air.
'NCR is Number of Cans Required. The amount of beer yoi need to drink to
want to have sex with a girl,' Fred said.
'Michael dated an ugly bitch once. He admits it, NCR 40 Roger said. Everyone
roared with laughter.
'Here you go, hungry boys,' Hazel said in a flirtatious tone she passed the
plates.
The Australians mainly ate meat dishes. We had stuck to a pizza as it was the
only recognisable choice.
'You got to do more protein,' Michael said, his biceps flexing, as he ate.
Omi said, I drink two litres of milk everyday.'
Ish sat next to Fred. I could not hear their conversation However, I saw Ish's
frequent nods. I left the Aussie rooting stories and moved to Ish.
'If you're the bowler and you've got the ball in your hand, you're controlling the
game. You've got to make sure the batsman know who's the boss,' Fred was
saying. 'Same for Ali. He doesn't just need to hit shots, he needs to show the
other team who is the boss.' 'Right,' Ish said.
My players will eventually figure out new ways to bowl to Ali. A determined
mind can counter a gift. A champion has both.' Ish nodded.
Hi Govind!' Fred had spotted me. 'Don't want rooting tips? We are just doing
boring coach talk.'