India's blind cricketers will finally get their due as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to affiliate their body, the Cricket Association of the Blind in India (CABI), and recognise their achievements
GK Mahantesh
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India's blind cricketers will finally get their due as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to affiliate their body, the Cricket Association of the Blind in India (CABI), and recognise their achievements.
The Indian blind cricket team recently retained the Blind World Cup, beating Pakistan by two wickets in the final in Sharjah. They are also two-time winners of the T20 World Cup. All other cricket boards, including Pakistan, have taken their respective blind cricket associations under their wings, and following a request from cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, the BCCI will soon be doing so too, revealed CABI president GK Mahantesh.
"It was nice of Sachin to write a letter recommending us to the BCCI. It feels great to be recognised by the God of Indian cricket and we are grateful to him for his kind gesture," Mahantesh, who met BCCI CEO Rahul Johri recently, told mid-day over the phone from Bangalore yesterday. "We discussed our problems and the difficulties that our blind cricketers are facing.
"They [BCCI] are very keen to support blind cricket and are planning to not just provide us infrastructure, but also reward our boys for their World Cup win. I'm confident that the affiliation from BCCI will come about soon. That will make a huge difference to us. The access to infrastructure will help us spread the game to different parts of the country and include more players. It will be the best thing to happen to our blind cricketers," added Mahantesh. Tendulkar recently wrote to the chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) Vinod Rai, requesting him to consider recognition for CABI.
With inputs from PTI
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