The 2019 World Cup meant the world and more to their team, and they reached the semi final easily.

Unfortunately, Team India found themselves in an unthinkable position on the 2nd day of the semi final.

There was a heavy silence in the dugout as Pant and Pandya were batting, India having been reduced to 24/4.

"Don't you think it's ironical, Rohit," said Virat quietly to Rohit, who was sitting beside him. "That in the very last World Cup our old team will play together, we left everything to two youngsters who weren't even part of us back then?"

Rohit had not spoken a word since Virat's dismissal, and now he said through gritted teeth, "For heaven's sake, shut up."

A stunned Virat needed a whole minute to recover. "What did you say?" he spat dangerously.

Rohit turned to face him. "We wouldn't be in this position if you didn't attempt that stupid shot!"

Virat received another massive shock, and this one made him see a bloody red.

"And you played so well, didn't you?" he said, his voice rising.

"There's a difference between us--when you're dismissed, everyone gives up!"

"What the hell do you mean to imply?"

"You're the best damn player in the whole world, Virat, so don't you know how demotivated we feel when you get out?"

"I'm not the best ODI player in the world, I'm not!" shouted Virat. "You are, and you've scored highest runs in the tournament, so why would you desert us in the semi final?"

"Desert? Desert?" shouted back Rohit.

By this time, the rest of the team in the dugout was exchanging absolutely horrified glances. The youngsters like Rahul, Jassi, Kuldeep and Yuzi looked plain terrified, but the older members, who had dealt with these earlier, knew they had to separate the two as soon as possible.

Bhuvi and Jaddu reached some kind of understanding through an eye exchange.

"What else do you suppose--" began Virat when Jaddu appeared in front of them and grabbed Rohit's shoulders.

"Let's go and sit in the front," he said soothingly, and pulled Rohit up, who didn't resist.

Bhuvi said quietly in Virat's ear, "Care to go inside the dressing room?"

Virat looked between Bhuvi and Rohit.

The last words he heard Rohit muttering were, "I didn't mean to desert India--did I desert India, Jaddu?"

Virat felt his throat closing up.

"It's ok, Virat, it's ok--come inside," said Bhuvi gently but firmly.

Virat got up and followed Bhuvi into the dressing room, but he couldn't help glancing back one last time.

Rohit was sitting outside the dugout, his face buried in his arms. Jaddu was looking at him like he didn't know the right thing to say.

Virat shut the door of the dressing room as Bhuvi sat down on a random bench, saying nothing.

Virat wished he could cry, because surely that would be better than the enormous lump in his throat and the burning sensation behind his eyes.

Everything hurt so much.

Losing in the semi final again, after qualifying as table toppers--losing the last World Cup their old team would play together--and--and--seeing Rohit cry like that and knowing that it was his fault. Sure, Rohit had accused him too, but he shouldn't have reacted cruelly like that.

His head hurt. His chest ached like he was dying.

Virat sank to his knees, breathing heavily. He had to try to speak several times before he managed a choking whisper, "I can't believe this is happening to us, Bhuvi."

"I can't either," said Bhuvi, his voice breaking.

At that moment, Virat and Bhuvi held on to each other desperately, trying to deal with the heartbreak. Breaking down in front of each other and consoling each other, too, for half an hour healed them both a bit.

Both of them feeling ready to face the world again, they walked out of the dressing room into the dugout.

Virat's sharp feeling of guilt as he saw Rohit was swiftly mollified when he noticed Jaddu's arm around his shoulders. Rohit seemed to have stopped crying.

"You should make up with him later," said Bhuvi.

Virat saw that Bhuvi was staring at Jaddu and Rohit sitting together too, and he nodded.

He linked his arm against Bhuvi's and said, "I told you we can get through this--together."

____________

Jaddu's brave knock gave a billion hearts false hope that fateful night, but no one more so than the group of friends who had played for the country for the last 6 years, and wanted nothing more than to win their last WC together.

Just as Jaddu was about to reach his fifty, he hit a boundary and Virat automatically turned back and a broadly grinning Rohit high fived him.

Because in the most emotional moments of their lives, Rohit and Virat could only turn to each other, forgetting...or not caring... about their tiff earlier.

That was probably the last time Virat or Rohit smiled in a very long time, because Jaddu got dismissed soon after, and India lost.

Their team lost the last World Cup they'd play together--the World Cup which had mattered so much to them ended in India losing by just 18 runs.

So close, yet so far...

Virat tried to blank out all thoughts, because he had to put on a sporting face and shake hands with the New Zealand players. His team followed him, but Rohit didn't come, and no on tried to force him.

Rohit was standing alone in the team balcony, and the look on his face as Virat glanced back hurt him probably worse than the defeat. Because Virat remembered the day they had won the 2011 WC, and how conflicted Rohit had been then.

"Maybe one day you and I..."

"Will win a World Cup for India?"

"We might, you never know."

"Maybe the 2019 WC."

"Maybe."

And now, in this World Cup, Rohit had given his all. Rohit had carried India almost alone to the semis, but it just....wasn't enough in the end.

____________

Somehow, everyone in the team felt that day that none of them were as broken as Rohit, and the team was so much like a family that, ignoring their sadness, they all wanted to make Rohit feel better first of all.

But Rohit wouldn't accept any company that night. He sat alone in the bus, ignoring all words of comfort or solidarity.

He looked completely...blank.

None of the youngsters could comprehend the heartbreak, just as Virat had not been able to comprehend the seniors' happiness after the 2011 WC final.

Mahi bhai had already won one WC with a team close to this heart.

Only Jaddu, Bhuvi and Virat shared in the kind of misery Rohit was going through, because Shikhar, Jinks and Ash weren't there.

Virat tried sitting beside Rohit, but the latter, after ignoring him for some time, told him flatly, "Leave me alone."

"I wasn't going to speak a word," said Virat untruthfully, because he had been racking his brains trying to think of something to say.

Rohit stared out of the window fixedly and refused to acknowledge Virat's presence furthur.

Some of Virat's annoyance must have shown on his face, because Bhuvi came and gently led him away. No one wanted Virat's tactlessness to target Rohit today.

"Give him some time," Mahi bhai told Virat softly. "He'll accept it eventually."

"There's nothing else we can do. We'll all have to accept it eventually," said Virat dully.