The village cricket team “Veer Eleven” was known for its arrogance. Before every match, the players would loudly declare, “Today we’ll make the other team bite the dust!” The villagers would simply smile and say, “Let’s see who makes whom bite the dust.”
That day, a big match was scheduled against a visiting team. The captain of Veer Eleven, Munna Ji, walked onto the field full of confidence. After winning the toss, he chose to bat first and proudly announced, “Today we’ll smash the scoreboard!”
The first batsman swung his bat dramatically, only to send the ball flying high into the air. It went so high that people joked it had gone to admire the sky. When it finally came down, it landed safely in a fielder’s hands. The batsman was out without scoring much.
The second batsman entered the field declaring, “Now I’ll set the ground on fire!” But on the very first ball, he swung so hard that his bat slipped from his hands and flew backward, while the ball crashed straight into the stumps.
Things didn’t improve during fielding either. One player ran to catch an easy ball, but it slipped through his hands as if they were covered in soap.
Captain Munna Ji shouted, “Focus! We have to crush them!”
Meanwhile, the opposing team played calmly and steadily. They hit fours and sixes as if they were practicing in their backyard.
Veer Eleven’s total score turned out to be embarrassingly low. In the final over, Captain Munna Ji tried to motivate his team, shouting, “This is not the time to lose—do something!”
But on the last ball, the players stumbled while running between the wickets and failed to score even a single run.
The match ended with Veer Eleven suffering a crushing defeat.
As they walked off the field, Captain Munna Ji sighed and said, “We came to make them bite the dust, but we ended up rolling in it ourselves.”
The villagers laughed and remarked, “Sometimes, it’s not arrogance but sportsmanship that leads to real victory.”
RAJEEV VERMA 