After the success of Indian blind men’s cricket team which already has a T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup and T20 Asia Cup under their kitty, the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) has now decided to launch the Indian blind women's team.
The team will comprise of 41-members, which has been selected by Shantha Rangaswamy, the woman selection committee chairman and former Indian woman team captain.
The General Secretary of CABI, John David mentioned that there was a great demand for a women's team since a very long time, and this move has been made to recognize women's cricket in the same light as the men's team.
“A lot of interest has been shown by various women to play cricket and that boosted our confidence and that’s why we today launched this team. We are trying to move forward by working very hard and work for the betterment,” David told ANI.
“This is a very nice initiative taken by Shantha Rangaswamy. Like men’s cricket team, women cricket team should also be given the same amount of recognition worldwide and there should be events like world cup and others,” said Shekhar Naik, ex-captain of the Blind Indian cricket team.
“I am sure that this team will definitely show its talent and will participate at the national and international level. We need more support to recognize this kind of cricket,” he further added.
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As per reports, the women's team will be trained by their men counterparts.
Over the years, the Indian blind men’s team has struggled with poor facilities despite their formidable performances, and many players have been languishing without jobs. CABI has been supported by the Samarthanam Trust and have tried to ensure that the Indian blind cricket team gets all the help it can get to compete at the international level but currently their funds have dried up. BCCI is also yet to recognize blind cricket.
The blind team for men was launched in 2011 and has gone on to win the 2014 World Cup, defeating Pakistan in the final in Cape Town. They also won the first T20 Blind Cricket World Cup that was held in Bangalore in 2012, by overcoming Pakistan by 29 runs.
The ‘Sweep shot’ is the most commonly used shot in blind cricket, which provides maximum chance of the bat hitting the ball.
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