Indian blind cricket team in Bahrain

Manama

Indian National Blind Cricket Team showed last night at the Bahrain Rugby Club in Saar that despite being visually or totally impaired they can beat the odds and compete against normal sighted people in a series of matches.
India are the current world champions after they defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the final of the Blind Cricket World Cup (BCWC) at the Wally Wilson Cricket Ground in Cape Town, South Africa last December.
The team coached by Patrick Rajkumar arrived in Bahrain on Monday from England after playing last week against England in a series of ODIs and a T20 Series and winning handsomely and skippered by 29-year old Shekar Naik from Karnataka.
Blind Cricket is played to the same rules as regular cricket with a few modifications, such as the ball is larger and filled with ball bearing, the stumps are larger and a bowler must shout 'play' when they are to bowl, to name a few.
Last night's action began with a series of 11-a-side matches with Bahrain Youth Academy playing the visitors (without blindfolds) and managing 42 for four in 10 overs with Ayush (22 not out) and George (16 not out) top scoring, while the Indians rattled off the runs scoring 44 without loss in five overs.
Awali Taverners then took on the Indian world champions (without blindfolds) and managed a decent 70 for two in 10 overs.
However, the Indian side had no problem knocking off the runs and reaching the target scoring 73 for one in 5.5 overs.
Then in the final challenge match, Awali Taverners played with blindfolds, the Indian team batted first and scored 45 in its five overs and the Taverners finished on just six in its five overs which included five wides.
"It was an incredible experience playing against these players and showed how adaptable we can all be to overcome disabilities if we have the will power to succeed," said David Axtell one of the organisers.
The tour to Bahrain is supported by Batelco, Gulf Air, Mathias Tourism and Gulf Air.
Today the Indian team are set to play at the Awali Oval from 3pm and will later be at the Indian Club at 8pm.