Srinagar: When Ajay Kumar and friends decided to form Jammu and Kashmir’s blind cricket team in 2015, they could gather only four players. They would then engage players from Punjab to play for them during tournaments.
Now, thanks to their hard individual efforts, 52 cricketers are associated with the Cricket Association for Blind J&K and two players have yet again received a camp call-up from the national team for selection to the next World Cup.
The selection of the players to the ongoing 11-day coaching-cum-selection camp at Bengaluru for the forthcoming World Cup has elated the visually-challenged cricketers and they are hopeful that it will augur well for the game in the union territory.
“We first started in 2015 and at that time we only had four players. We had to request players from Punjab when we played matches. We did not have any support then but we worked hard and now 52 cricketers are associated with our body. Two players Rohit Sharma and Mohd Azeem, both from Jammu are taking part in the ongoing 11-day coaching-cum-selection camp in Bengaluru for the forthcoming World Cup,” said Ajay, who is the general secretary of the Cricket Association for Blind J&K.
Talking to The Kashmir Monitor, he said: “In 2018, two cricketers (one from Jammu and another from Kashmir) had made it to the national side, and now the selection of two players yet again for a selection camp after four years have given us fresh hopes regarding the development of blind cricket infrastructure in J&K. We are excited and hope that our players will make it to the national side for the World Cup that is being held in December.”
Ajay said the ongoing Bengaluru camp, which entered its fourth day on Wednesday, was now being supported by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“The BCCI is fully supporting the ongoing camp and also the World Cup. For the past one year or so, the BCCI has been providing good support to the Cricket Association for Blind in India. Unfortunately, the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association is yet to follow suit. We hope that the J&K government and concerned authorities come forward and provide facilities and assistance to blind cricketers,” he said.
“Thanks to social media and support from some local media houses, people are coming to know about blind cricket. We hope people at large also support us just like they support other sportspersons,” he added.
Meanwhile, the selection camp for the World Cup in Bengaluru is going on in full swing. As many as 56 blind cricketers from all over the country including two from J&K were selected to attend the camp. Later, 29 players will be shortlisted and 17 will make it to the national side.
“3rd day of the NTT DATA National Coaching Camp for the Blind 2022. It’s the time to Learn, Unlearn and Relearn the skills (sic),” said Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) in a tweet yesterday while sharing a video of the camp.