6 hours agoShareSaveAnnesha GhoshSports writerShareSaveAFP via Getty ImagesThe ongoing inaugural Blind Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup has put the spotlight on visually impaired Indian women who have overcome immense challenges to reach this stage.They come from villages, farming families and small-town hostels, with many learning the sport only in the past few years.The T20 tournament – a six-team event featuring India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia and the USA – began on 11 November in Delhi. After a few matches in Bengaluru, the venue for the knockouts has now moved to Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo.The 16-member Indian squad represents nine states – Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Delhi, Assam, and Bihar. Many players were introduced to the sport through schoolteachers, disability organisations, or community camps.”Most of the players are from rural backgrounds,” said team manager Shika Shetty. “Language and culture were barriers, families and teachers were often unwilling to let them pursue the sport, and even introducing the rules of blind cricket took time. But now they are all competing with pride.”Blind cricket uses a plastic ball with metal bearings that jingle, and players are grouped by sight: B1 (fully blind), B2 and B3. Teams must field a mix of all three. The ball is bowled underarm along the ground. B1 batters use runners for safety, and each run they score counts as two.The World Cup features six teams in a single round-robin. India won all five matches and were the first side to qualify for the semi-finals.Who is on the team?Cricket Association for the Blind in IndiaIndia’s team is captained by Deepika TC, a Karnataka native who lost her sight as a baby after an accident. She grew up in a farming family, unaware that sport would define her life.Cricket reached her through specialised schools, where teachers encouraged her to try the game despite her hesitation. Over time, the sport gave her direction and confidence, she says.Leading India in the World Cup carries deep meaning for her.”This is the biggest moment of my and my team’s life. Earlier this month, the sighted Indian women’s cricket team won the World Cup in Navi Mumbai, and we want to make it a double this month,” Deepika said. She said support from Indian women’s World Cup winner Jemimah Rodrigues and men’s Test captain Shubman Gill had been very meaningful.Vice-captain Ganga Kadam of Maharashtra, from a family of nine siblings, was enrolled in a school for the blind by her farmer father to secure a stable future.She played cricket casually until a mentor urged her to take it seriously. Learning to trust sound, timing, and orientation was challenging. The 26-year-old’s progress came through persistence rather than immediate results, and she now inspires visually impaired girls in her village to play sports.Another on the team, top-order batter Anekha Devi, 20, from Jammu and Kashmir, was born partially blind. Her uncle, also visually impaired, urged her to attend a blind cricket camp in Delhi after school. She remembers early sessions as overwhelming, with unfamiliar voices and techniques. But she adapted quickly and surprised coaches with her grasp of the audible ball system. Within two years she reached the national team and often speaks of wanting to become the role model she never had for herself. Her 18-year-old all-rounder teammate, Phula Saren, from a tribal community in Odisha, lost vision in her left eye at five, as well as her mother soon after. She discovered cricket through a teacher at a school for the blind.Travelling to tournaments was challenging, and persuading her family took time, but she persisted. Her turning point wasn’t a trophy – it was realising she belonged at the national level.Meanwhile, Sunita Sarathe from Madhya Pradesh didn’t step into cricket directly from school. She completed college, explored vari …
