The Zoya Factor

When the younger players in India's Cricket team learn that mid-level Advertising executive Zoya Singh Solanki was born at the exact moment India clinched the World Cup, back in '83, they are intrigued; when eating Breakfast with her is followed by victories on the field, they are impressed; and when not eating with her results in defeat, they are convinced she's their lucky charm. Between them and the eccentric IBCC president they coax Zoya to accompany the Indian team to Australia for the tenth ICC World Cup on an all-expenses-paid holiday, on the condition that le breakfast with them before every match... Worshipped by her Indian fans, and vilified by the other competing teams, Zoya struggles valiantly too her bit for Indian cricket in the thick of the World Cup action. It doesn't help that she keeps clashing with the erratically brilliant new skipper Nikhil Khoda who tells her flatly that he doesn't believe in luck...

Anuja Chauhan was born in Meerut, the youngest of four sisters, and went to School in Meerut, Delhi and Melbourne. She has worked in Advertising for over fourteen years and has unleashed lines like Yeh Dil Maange More, Mera Number Kab Aayega, Nothing Official About It, and Oye Bubbly upon the unsuspecting public. She lives in Gurgaon with her husband, Niret Alva, and their three children, Niharika, Nayantara, and Daivik John. This is her first attempt at Writing anything longer than sixty seconds.