Over 300 visually impaired cricketers sign up for Nagesh Trophy- T20 Blind Cricket Tournament

Parasports

The second edition of the T-20 Blind Cricket Tournament Nagesh Trophy has kicked of in various cities such as Bhopal, Pune. The Tournament will be played at various venues across the country and will feature some extremely talented blind cricket players. The first edition of Nagesh Trophy was played last year and this year the Tournament has returned in a bigger format with 336 visually impaired cricketers and 24 teams vying for the trophy.

The teams have been divided into four groups, A, B, C and D and 64 tough matches will be played to lead to the finals.

Ajay Kumar Reddy, the current captain of the India national blind cricket team is representing the team from Andhra Pradesh in the Nagesh Trophy Tournament. He feels that the tournament this year is a huge achievement for blind cricket in country as hundreds of aspiring players are getting the opportunity to compete and showcase their talents.

“I am very happy that we are getting to play a lot of matches within the country. This kind of exposure is very beneficial for the players and allows them to improve their game besides adding to confidence levels. We will be travelling to different cities and although it is a challenge for visually impaired people, all players are keeping their spirits high and aiming to give their best shots,” says Ajay.

Despite being the world champion in blind cricket for the last two years, the game and players are yet to receive the acknowledgment and support they deserve.

It is a huge opportunity for blind cricket players and we are hoping to encourage more players to participate in the sports. Tournaments like these are good learning experience for the players and help them realize their own potentials. We can make a huge difference if support is provided by the government for the promotion of Blind cricket in India. John David, General Secretary, Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI)

This year’s Nagesh Trophy Tournament has been organised by the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) in association with World Blind Cricket Limited (WBC) . Agartala, Lucknow, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Kochi, Ludhiana, Faridabad, Chennai are some of the venues this year.

The competition is named after late S P Nagesh, former President of CABI who was also founder trustee of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled.

Apart from the Nagesh Trophy, the Indian blind cricket team will soon be playing a bilateral series with Nepal this year. The year 2020 may also witness an ambitious series of India facing South Africa in T-20 International Blind cricket.