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Kerala's first visually-challenged women's cricket team all set to open its innings

If one casts a quick glance at the six girls in their blue and white jerseys playing on the lush green ground in Aluva, they look nothing less than professional cricketers.

Wearing their caps, gloves and pads, they move confidently and it’s not until you see them chasing the cricket ball that makes a tickling sound that you notice that the players are visually challenged.



“The tiny bells within the ball helps these players locate it and play accordingly,” says former Kerala player and coach Sulaja Ponnappan, who has been training the girls from the beginning of the month on the grounds of School for The Blind in Aluva.
What’s shaping up here is the State’s first visually-challenged cricket team for women, under the aegis of the Cricket Association for the Blind in Kerala, an affiliated body of the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI). The players are training to take part in the first ever national blind cricket tournament for women, to be held in November.

Rajanish Henry, who was formerly a player with Kerala men’s cricket team for the visually impaired, oversees the team and its training. The player, who is also the senior vice president of CABI, says, “The national men’s team for the visually challenged has been performing well both in One Day and T-20 formats. It has also been proven that the game is one of the finest mediums to empower those like us, physically as well as with jobs. That is the reason why CABI also wants to put together women’s teams. Currently, eight states already have women’s teams.”

Once CABI announced its decision to form a women’s cricket team in Kerala a few months ago, the news was circulated on various social media forums of the visually challenged and institutions. The six members of the team are between the ages of 16 and 25 and belong to three categories — B1 (completely visually impaired), B2 (partially blind) and B3 (partially sighted). Simi Thomas, a visually impaired faculty from Maharaja’s College who has also been helping the team with training and coordination, says, “A visually challenged cricket team always has players from all these categories and the rules are a little different from that of regular cricket.”

The team’s wicketkeeper Sandra Davis, a Plus-2 student from Thrissur, has participated in blind cricket tournaments with boys in the past. “In blind cricket, players who are partially sighted are slotted as wicket keepers. But I can also bowl and bat,” says the 18-year-old. Another player Christeena Mol Stephen, who has just finished graduation from Maharaja’s College, was also active in sports from her school days. “I used to take part in running and jumping events. Cricket is, however, new to me but I am having a great time learning the basics,” she says.

There are others too who have come to play purely out of the interest to try something new and outdoorsy. Jomol K Paul, a second year BCA student in Kochi, is 100% visually impaired, though her moves and cheerful personality do not give that away. “I knew there were blind cricket teams for boys, and so when I heard about such an initiative for girls, I felt I should give it a try. It is quite challenging but fun too. Through the training and meditation sessions, I am improving my concentration, as that is essential for me to chase the ball. My family is supportive too, as the sport helps develop my physique as well,” she says. The other team members, Harisree K S, Tanuja C George and Ranjini K R are awaiting more players to join in so that they can prepare well.

Simi says that finding good players is a challenge as not many parents of such girls find cricket an interesting prospect. “Various things, like the lack of interest in parents to set time aside to take their girls for such pursuits, their job and time constraints and more are stopping many from giving this a try. Generally, the tendency is not to let visually impaired women out of one’s sight or allow them to take part in physical activity, fearing for their safety. But as visually-challenged girls don’t get much freedom in general, they love it when they get to play. Even here, we have to force them to wrap up their morning training sessions that they begin without even having food,” Simi says.
The programme is not just for creating a cricket team, says Rajanish. “We also train the players to communicate in English and have sessions on personality development, home science, orientation and mobility, computers and more,” he explains.

If the girls do well at the national level, they will be selected to the Indian team for international tournaments by the end of 2019. While the prospects are interesting, the team is having a tough time finding sponsors, Rajanish admits. “It is important to give girls safe and secure facilities. Moreover, if we have sponsors, we can bring parents along and can train them too to help the kids. And if all goes well, we can see Kerala players representing India in the World Cup very soon,” he concludes.

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