A history of Blind Cricket following the Indian Blind Cricket Team's World Cup win

Indian team celebrates after winning the World Cup (Image credits: Blind Cricket WC'14 @BCWC2014)

This week, India defeated defending champions Pakistan to win the fourth edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup. In a country which is known to be fanatic about the game of cricket, the news of India beating arch-rivals Pakistan did not receive the same reception as the news of the Men in Blue (representing BCCI) winning the ICC World Cup would receive.

Our awareness about blind cricket is relatively negligible compared to the regular cricket which we follow, and we’ve undoubtedly always turned a blind eye towards blind cricket in India. It’s the fourth edition of the Cricket World Cup for the blind, and it hardly caught anyone’s attention in India until India defeated Pakistan in the finals.

Blind cricket, however, has a very interesting history associated with it. The concept is, in fact, 92 years old with blind cricket originating in Melbourne, Australia, in the year 1922. Apparently, two blind factory workers improvised the game using a tin can containing rocks. The game soon made its way to other parts of the Australia and was primarily played during lunchtime at workshops where vision impaired people were employed.

It was in the year 1928 that the first interstate blind cricket match took place in Sydney, between New South Wales and Victoria, and 25 years later, the Australian Blind Cricket Council was formed along with the Inaugural Australian Blind Cricket Carnival (Championships) in Melbourne.

It was 43 years after this that the World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC) was established, in the year 1996, in New Delhi, India. George Abraham was the founding chairman of the WBCC. It has ten full members which include Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and Nepal.

Rules and Regulations

Unlike the cricket governed by the ICC, blind cricket has its own set of rules and regulations. In fact, the team composition of a blind cricket team is also very interesting. Not all players of the team are totally blind. A match is played with 11 players, of which a minimum of four players are totally blind (which are called B1s), minimum three players are partially blind (B2) and a maximum of four are partially sighted players (B3).

There is also a unique code of identification of B1, B2 and B3 players in the field. B1 players will be distinguished on the field of play by a white wristband to be worn on the right wrist or by one white stripe on the right upper arm of the playing shirt. B2 players, on the other hand, are distinguished on the field of play by a red wrist band to be worn on the right wrist or by two white stripes on the right upper arm of the playing shirt.

And lastly, B3 players are distinguished on the field of play by a blue wristband to be worn on the right wrist or by three white stripes on the right upper arm of the playing shirt.

As for the rules of play, an ODI consists of 40 overs a side with a duration of three hours allotted for each team to complete their quota of overs. Both teams must bowl 40 overs, regardless of time. Penalty runs will be added for all the overs that have been bowled outside the stipulated time at the rate of 10 runs for every B1 over not bowled and 6 runs for every B2 or B3 overs not bowled.

For a Test match or a two innings match, a match is of three days’ duration and a minimum of 80 overs must be bowled in a full day’s play of six hours. Also in every twenty overs bowled, at least 5 (25 percent) overs must be bowled by B1 bowlers.

As far as running between the wickets is concerned, a B1 batsman shall have a runner and a B2 batsman has the option of a runner. However, a batsman who has opted for a runner cannot act as a runner for another batsman.

An interesting catch is in regards to the scoring where all runs scored off the bat by a B1 batsman is doubled and credited to the batsman, while a “one bounce” catch by a B1 player will result in the batsman being given out.

The bowling is underarm, and at the point of delivery, the arm has to be below the shoulder. Failure of this will result in a no-ball being called. The ball has to also bounce once on either side of the mid pitch line before it reaches the batting crease. Failure to do so will result in a no-ball being called. Also, the bowler has to say “ready?” to the batsman, when he is set to bowl. To which the batsman has to respond by saying, “yes.” At the point of delivery, the bowler must say “play”. Failure to do so will result in a no-ball being called. A no- ball will also be called if the call of “play”, in the opinion of the umpire, is too early or too late.

The complete rules of blind cricket are explained here.

History of the Blind Cricket World Cup

The first edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup was organized in the year 1998 in New Delhi, and South Africa were crowned the champions of the inaugural edition. The second edition took place in Chennai in 2002, where Pakistan beat South Africa to take the tag. The third edition was the first edition outside India, in Islamabad, Pakistan, where the home team became the first team to defend the title.

The fourth edition took place in South Africa this year, and finally India won their first Blind Cricket World Cup, beating arch-rivals Pakistan. It should also be mentioned here that the first T20 Blind Cricket World Cup was held in Bangalore, India, in 2012. India defeated Pakistan by 29 runs in the final.

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Blind cricket might not be as popular as the cricket we get exposure to. Though unfortunate, it is almost impossible for us to generate as healthy a following for this form of the game as we have for the BCCI governed team. But the least we can do is support these players and not take anything away from this historic win. After the 2011 World Cup, here we have another World Cup coming home. Congratulations Team India.