Cricket Ascend System

Chapter 52: Viral

Sahil didn’t realize anything was changing at first.

For him—

the tournament still felt simple.

Practice.

Matches.

Training.

System missions.

Repeat.

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But outside the ground—

things had started exploding quietly.

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It began after the DAV match.

Specifically—

the six against Arnav’s short ball.

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Someone uploaded the clip online.

Then another angle appeared.

Then commentary audio got added.

Then slow motion edits started spreading.

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Within two days—

the clip crossed school cricket pages everywhere.

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> "School kid sends 135 km/h bouncer out of ground!"

> "Inter-school finisher is insane."

> "This guy bats like a mini T20 player."

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Riverside boys spammed the clip everywhere proudly.

Even local cricket pages reposted it.

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And suddenly—

Sahil’s Instagram notifications exploded.

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+127 followers.

+342 followers.

+800 followers.

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By the end of week—

he crossed 5,000 followers.

Which honestly felt unreal for a school cricketer.

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The weirdest part?

People actually recognized him now.

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One junior from another school literally asked for selfie after match practice.

Sahil stood there confused for three full seconds before agreeing awkwardly.

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Commentary teams noticed too.

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During next match warmups:

> "Social media sensation Sahil Choudhary warming up now."

> "That pull-shot clip is everywhere right now."

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Kabir laughed immediately hearing it.

"Celebrity."

Sahil rolled eyes.

"Shut up."

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But secretly—

he checked Instagram constantly now.

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Edits.

Cricket reels.

Slow-motion sixes.

Comment sections.

Even fan pages had started appearing.

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@SahilPowerHitter — 1.2k followers

@SC_6Machine — Match edits

@PullShotKing — Tournament clips

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Honestly—

some names were terrible.

But still—

seeing people discuss his batting felt addictive.

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One clip especially went viral.

The massive six against Arnav.

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The edit slowed impact moment dramatically.

Bat swing.

Ball disappearing.

Commentary screaming.

Crowd reacting.

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Views: 312K

Likes: 41K

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Even Coach Verma heard students talking about it near school corridor.

And immediately warned the team afterward.

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"Social media creates hype fast."

Then his eyes stopped on Sahil.

"But hype disappears even faster."

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That sentence killed excitement slightly.

Because deep down—

Sahil understood what he meant.

One failure could flip everything online too.

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Still—

the attention affected him.

Naturally.

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He started batting slightly differently during nets.

Trying bigger shots sometimes.

More stylish finishes.

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And unfortunately—

the system noticed instantly.

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WARNING

External validation affecting shot selection.

Risk: Unnecessary aggression increase.

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Sahil frowned immediately.

Because annoyingly—

the system was correct again.

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Later that evening—

he opened one viral edit again secretly.

The comments kept flooding constantly.

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> "Future state player."

> "Bro hits cleaner than college players."

> "District selectors better watch this kid."

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Then one comment stood out differently.

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> "Power is crazy... but timing improving fast too."

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Sahil stared at that line slightly longer.

Because that—

that was the improvement he cared about most now.

Not fame.

Not followers.

Not viral clips.

Timing.

Control.

Real batting growth.

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Still though—

when his follower count crossed 10,000 that night...

he smiled for almost five full minutes.