Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 25

In the quiet bylanes of the national capital’s Lodhi Estate, at the Delhi Tamil Education Association’s (DTEA) senior secondary school’s ground, an enthusiastic and confident bunch of Indian cricketers have been busy giving finishing touches to their preparation for the challenging World Cup T20 tournament.

Don’t get confused! The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) have no plans to have back-to-back T20 World Cups after the immense success of the tournament the previous year. And, to further clarify things, the Indian team is well and truly in Kanpur to take on the visiting English side in the first of the three-match T20I series.

This passionate and lively bunch of cricketers are part of India’s 17-member Blind Cricket squad, readying itself for the second edition of the World Cup T20 for Blind, which will kick-start in Delhi on January 29 with the inauguration ceremony. The league matches will begin the following day with the defending champions India locking horns with Bangladesh in their tournament opener at the capital’s IIT Ground.

The two-week long tournament, which will conclude at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy stadium on February 12, will see the participation of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, England, Australia, West Indies, South Africa and debutants New Zealand, apart from India. The mouth-watering clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan will take place on February 1 at Delhi’s Ferozeshah Kotla stadium.

Apart from Delhi, the matches will be played in Indore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Ananthpur, Vijayawada and Hyderabad. The BCCI has agreed to host the matches at some of its centres namely Indore’s Holkar stadium, Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel stadium, Pune’s MCA stadium. Cricket Club of India (CCI), too, will host two fixtures at the Brabourne Stadium.

The tournament is being organised by the Cricket Association of Blind in India (CABI), which is not recognised by either the BCCI or the Sports Ministry. The few and far between financial assistance from corporates is what keeps the blind cricket moving in India. For the World Cup T20, IndusInd Bank has come forward as sponsor of the Indian team. But, the CABI is still to find a title sponsor for the tournament.

Tough going

For blind cricket in India, things haven’t moved as expected after the title triumph at the 2012 World Cup T20, the first-ever victory for Indian team at a global stage. Until then, the Indian team hadn’t been able to put up an impressive show at the previous three editions of the 40-over ODI World Cup in 1998 (won by South Africa), 2002 and 2006 (winners Pakistan). After the team’s failure in 2006, blind cricket went into oblivion in India till Patrick Raj Kumar took over as the chief coach in 2012. The results followed immediately and India were crowned World T20 champions, followed by away ODI series victory against Pakistan and Australia in 2013, ODI World Cup success in South Africa in 2014 and Asia Cup trophy in 2016.

Now, the team under the stewardship of Patrick and captain Ajay Reddy is all geared up to take on the world’s best in the shortest format. “We sincerely hope that things improve for us after the World Cup. We have been trying to prove a point since 2012, but nothing has changed for our sport. Sports administrators and people in India are not willing to accept our achievements. For them, we don’t exist. Every attention is reserved for our able-bodied national cricket team,” Patrick told The Tribune.

For the record, the blind team on Wednesday comprehensively defeated able-bodied corporate team from the IndusInd bank by 43 runs in a practice match. In a 15-overs-a-side-match, Indian team scored 137 for 4 before restricting the IndusInd side to 93 for 8.

Though, it was a different matter that the banking team was facing the underarm bowling for the very first time. As per the rules of blind cricket, the bowling is always underarm and the ball that is used to play with is filled with ball bearings so that it can be heard by fully or partially-blind cricketers.

But, as of now, situation is seriously grim for blind cricketers. The school ground at the team’s disposal for practice resembles more of a rough field with scattered patches of grass. Any attempt to indulge in adventurous fielding drill could result in a serious injury to players. The team is putting up at a nearby guest house in the premises of Indian Social Institute, which Patrick described as “ok, ok types”.

Compared this situation to visiting teams from well-off Australia, England and New Zealand. “Those teams are staying in five-star Radisson Hotel in Dwarka. They will be practicing at DDA’s well-maintained Saket cricket ground as they can affords to pay for training. Even teams from West Indies and South Africa would be staying at Radisson,” Patrick said.

Reason — all the participating teams, barring India, are affiliated to their mainstream cricket Boards – be it Cricket Australia (CA), England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) or New Zealand Cricket (NZC) – and their respective boards are paying for their stay.

But, away from all the hustle and bustle which usually accompanies the Indian cricketers treated as demi-gods, these bunch of blind cricketers – almost oblivious to the outside world – are bracing up to script yet another historic chapter in the country’s rich cricket history.

source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sport/india-s-blind-cricket-team-battle-odds-ahead-of-t20-wc/355202.html