The final match of 24th National Blind Cricket Tournament will be played in Mumbai on 3rd November 2017 between Andhra Pradesh Team and Team Gujarat. What makes special about this cricketing event is all the players of the match are blind, making it a differently special tournament.The tournament is organised by Cricket Association for the Blind of Maharashtra (CABM), with the support of Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) affiliated to Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) and World Blind Cricket (WBC).
The winners from this tournament will take away the trophy along with a cash award of Rs.50000/- and the runners-up will take away a trophy along with a cash award of Rs.30000/-. In addition, there will be special mementoes that will be given to Man of the Match, Man of the Series, Best Batsman, Best Bowler, and Best Fielder.
This 24th National Tournament is a platform in selecting the Indian Team for the forth-coming 5th ODI World Cup at Dubai and Pakistan. Pakistan Blind Cricket Council organizes this in association with World Blind Cricket Ltd (WBC).
The zonal tournaments that started early in October and will end on 3rd November with the final in Mumbai.
South Zone – The tournament for South Zone was played in Calicut on 12th to 15th Oct ’17 wherein 6 teams participated. The teams were Telengana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Finally the team from Andhra Pradesh led by Ajay Kumar Reddy and Karnataka led by Prakash Jayaramaiah qualified from South Zone to play in the National Tournament.
West Zone – The tournament for West Zone was played in Ahmadabad on 16th and 17th Oct ’17 wherein 5 teams participated. The teams were Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Finally the team from Gujarat led by Ganesh Muhundkar and from Maharashtra led by Dilip Munde qualified from West Zone to play in the National Tournament.
East Zone – The tournament for East Zone was played in Calcutta on 20th to 22nd Oct ’17 wherein 4 teams participated. The teams were Tripura, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odessa. Finally the team from West Bengal led by Prasenjit Adak and from Odisha led by Jafar Iqbal qualified from East Zone to play in the National Tournament.
North Zone – The tournament for North Zone was played in Dehradun from 23rd to 25th Oct ’17 wherein 7 teams participated. The teams were UP, Delhi, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand and Haryana. Finally the team from Himachal Pradesh missed this tournament due to heavy rains. The team from Haryana led by Deepak Malik and UP led by Sanjeev qualified from North Zone.
Amidst the tough matches finally the Andhra Pradesh Team and Team Gujarat managed to reach the finals, which will played on 3rd November 2017. Last Year, the 23rd National Tournament was held at Balsa and Cali in Gujarat, also organised by CABI. Andhra Pradesh won the national championship and Gujarat won the runners-up trophy. This tournament helped CABI to pick up 17 good players who played the T-20 Cup in February ’17.
The galleries of the stadium may not be full with enthusiastic cricket crowd and their cheers, but the players on the ground will certainly expect some encouragement amidst their dark world. Each of this team is a story of grit and self-determination. Along with your moral support they also need your financial support, not much but some to sustain and survive. If you wish to help this team call Chinmoy: 9883291227.
