So, Cricket association for the Blind in India is a sports arm of Samarthanam Trust for the disabled, primarily committed to promote faster manage and govern the game of cricket for the blind in India and it is uh the only affiliated body of world blind cricket from India.

Purpose of forming this association and even Samarthanam was to encourage cricket among visually impaired.

You all know in India, cricket is a religion and the visually impaired are no exception.

Because cricket is such a game, it is so sequential, very planned, very organized and uh this gives lot of uh confidence, planning strategy and when you play, you play to win.

Determination, competition spirit and you also learn to accept the defeat.

So keeping all this in mind, Cricket Association for the Blind in India was formed in 2011, but we were always active with a former organization called Association for Cricket for the Blind in India, which managed cricket up till 2010.

When they decided to move on, they asked me and Nagesh, my Co-Founder of CABI, unfortunately we lost him in 2016, “Would you mind taking this forward?”

Both being cricket maniacs, cricket crazy, we just grabbed the opportunity.

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So, uh we have a global body called World Blind Cricket Limited, so this body is responsible to frame rules, plan international events and also, uh run the organization globally and support member countries to follow certain rules.

And the ball is also very standardized.

Uh, there is a standard which is laid down and uh countries are asked to manufacture if they can. Otherwise mostly India and Pakistan manufactures this ball and we supply it to all other countries.

Balling is underarm and wickets are different in this because wickets are made up of metal, because it has to be different, distinct from bat.

If bats and wickets are wooden, visually impaired won’t be able to recognize.

There are three categories of blind players.

B1, who’s completely blind, minimum 4 players have to be there in the team.

B2, minimum 3 players, who could see up to 2 to 3 meters.

And B3, maximum 4 players who could see up to 6 meters.

4-3-4 is the normal uh composition of 11 players.

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So, CABI, uh though completely patronized by Samarthanam, doesn’t get much support, or any support, you can say, from BCCI.

Very little support, on and off from Ministry of Sports.

No corporate support regularly, at least in the beginning.

And no cricket facilities, to organize tournaments for practice.

And also, because cricket for the blind had lost its importance when we took, so we had to convince lot of visual impaired, ‘yes, there is a future. It is also a sport where you can earn your livelihood, you can gain confidence, it molds into a personality’.

It was not easy to convince them.

And, when we approached companies, they were extremely delighted to know that blind cricket is happening, blind cricket is there, but they all said, ‘sorry, our company doesn’t have a mandate to support blind cricket and we don’t want to take mileage by sponsoring blind cricket’.

Like this, there were very many challenges.

We had to run from pillar to post, even when we wanted to organize the first T20 World Cup or when we organized it, it was not easy.

We must have approached some 500 to 1000 companies.

Everybody was very happy to know about it, but when we asked them to support, that’s when they all had a very very different answers.

So, we had to face lot of challenges, lack of grounds, no money, no recognition from BCCI and Ministry of Sports, but “never say die spirit’.

That always kept us going.

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Situation is much better compared to other disability cricket, blind cricket uh is doing reasonably good, but still long way to go.

Uh there are some committed sponsors for blind cricket and uh government on and off, as I mentioned, supported us.

Some State Governments, especially Government of Karnataka, whenever we wanted to organize big events, they have always supported us.

Government of Orissa I should recognize.

They have recognized our cricket there and they have given employment to all the visually employed men and women who have played for their, who have played for our country.

So, situation is improving but still long way to go.

BCCI is yet to recognize this and uh Ministry of Sports uh has given Arjuna Award to our ex-captain, our earlier captain got Padma Shri, like that some recognitions have been there.

We are continuing to work hard, we are continuing to uh, make our plea strong, hopefully in the years to come, blind cricket will also become one of the recognized rewarded sport in the days to come.

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Yeah, ever since we took over CABI, uh organized first T20 World Cup for the blind in 2012.

Nine countries participated, that’s when India won the World Cup for the first time.

Till then Pakistan was dominating blind cricket.

In 2014 uh fourth ODI was organized in Cape Town, India went and defeated Pakistan.

And we organized Asia championship in Kochi in 2016, again we had the privilege of beating Pakistan in Kochi.

2017, CABI organized second T20 World Cup in in Bangalore and other 12 cities, um finals again India and Pakistan in Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Around 25,000 people came, that was one of the highest attended uh any sport for disabled was, I was, I was told.

Again India won the championship in Chinnaswamy stadium.

2018, Pakistan hosted the fifth ODI World Cup in Dubai and Pakistan, so India defeated Pakistan in the historical Sharjah cricket ground.

And 2022, we organized third T20 World Cup across India.

Pakistan uh was not there, so Bangladesh and India played the finals.

India won the championship.

So, India has won three T20s, two ODIs and Asia Championship and feel very proud to say, last year, blind cricket was added for the first time in IBSA, International Blind Sports Association.

Both our men and women participated in Birmingham.

Our men won the silver medal and our girls made India proud by beating mighty Australia, winning the gold.

So like this, uh, we have been uh consistently performing well, winning many bilateral series, even this year we defeated Pakistan in Dubai after a very long time, after five-six years gap.

Uh in the friendship tournament, we defeated Sri Lanka recently.

Uh Hyundai Motors have come forward to support blind cricket.

They invested heavily and marketed the event, which garnered reasonable attention.

So, day by day, blind cricket is getting uh promoted across.

Media has been very very positive and uh celebrities, we have got celebrities associated in uh different capacities.

We had brand ambassadors like Ganguli for the first T20, Rahul Dravid for the second T20 and Yuvraj Singh for the third T20.

And when Hyundai launched, “Samarth by Hyundai” campaign, they got Shah Rukh Khan to endorse this.

So that way, uh, blind cricket is getting some traction.

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Yes!

So, blind cricket is played in all states and union territories.

More than 30 states and union territories participate in our Nagesh Trophy, which is named after my dear friend.

It’s a national competition, somewhat like a Ranji Trophy in regular cricket.

So, we have about 30,000 blind, either play or follow blind cricket.

And we organize tournaments across, every year national tournament is organized and many bilateral, different states organize inter, inter uh country competitions and two bilateral series home and two away we try and uh participate.

Uh Indian team uh is from at least 8 - 10 states, players come from different states.

So, our each state has to organize state tournaments and uh they have to pick their state team.

And they have to conduct practice sessions for their state and uh they some of try and talk to their mainstream state cricket associations like KSA in Karnataka, Orissa Cricket Association, uh Kerala Cricket Association.

Some of them are uh supporting, some uh are yet to…it is not easy, each state have their own struggles.

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Cricket is one game which is very very very uh inclusive because the cricket ball is developed which has audi…audible bearings inside which makes noise when it moves, so, through cricket you can unleash your potentiality.

You get opportunity to travel, you get opportunity to move, you get opportunity to meet different people, uh experience different culture, experience different food, and also get to know what is happening in other places.

What I am today, the English what I speak, is all from cricket commentary.

So, cricket can be pursued as a profession.

While you pursue cricket, also acquire other skills.

Could be technology, could be education, which compliments, supplements cricket.

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Some of our major future plans for cricket for the blind is, to build our own infrastructure, have completely accessible cricket stadium.

Uh, not only for blind cricket, even for other disability cricket and uh CABI is a very active member of uh Disabled Cricket Council of India, which was formed by all cricket uh associations for differently abled, like physically, wheelchair, deaf cricket, all of us uh which was asked by BCCI to be a part of it.

Um and uh get this recognised with BCCI and Ministry of Sports, so that our cricketers also get regular support, financial support, uh cricket facility support, awards and recognitions.

And uh we want to increase match fee.

We are paying very small match fee.

We want to increase it.

We want to give them a reasonable match fee.

And through Samarthanam, we are committed to support all cricketers with visually impairment, who want to pursue their education, who want to undergo skill training and if they need a job, I have asked my HR, first ask them if they are cricketers, give them a job, and then assess their skill.

So, these are some major plans which we'll continue to work towards this.

And we'll also heavily focus on training, training for both uh men and women and introduce this game in all visually impaired schools.

Catch them young and make them uh start working towards future, because cricket also needs a lot of fitness, so we want to focus on their fitness, we want to also uh focus on their nutrition requirement and mental ability.