Empty stands greet them, and there is no branding or cheer girls swinging their shimmering pom-poms. But, they don’t shy away from putting their best foot forward, undeterred by the scorching heat. What keeps them going is a steely resolve and dream of bursting on to the Indian Premier League (IPL) scene one day.
Fortunately for these specially-abled cricketers from across the country taking part in the second National T20 Challenge Cup tournament at L.B. Stadium and other parts of the city, officials and sponsors cutting across the two Telugu-speaking States have joined hands to promote their cause.
For the likes of 26-year-old Gujarat captain and all-rounder Dev Varma, who has a polio-struck left arm, this is a platform to showcase their mettle and prove that they too can play the game like the Kohlis and Dhonis. “We never think of our disability when we enter the field. The focus is on giving our best,” says another Gujarat all-rounder Shama Rashid.
Interestingly, none of the Gujarat cricketers have even watched an IPL match! “We want to do well in these events and play IPL one day,” says Rashid.
It is never easy to host a national event, even of this nature, as it costs over ₹60 lakh for providing a complete set of coloured flannels (not cricketing gear), hospitality for 24 State teams and taking care of the minimum needs at venues and fee for the four grounds.
Thanks to SATS chairman A. Venkateshwar Reddy, fee was waived off for using the L.B. Stadium for the event. Even the HPS and the HMWSSB grounds are free, says P. Punnami Krishna, president of Board of Disabled Cricket Association. “We are grateful to Samala Venkat Reddy’s SNR Foundation for being our main sponsor and providing jerseys to all the players. We also wish to express our gratitude to other philanthropists for supporting the event,” he says.
Interestingly, Jana Sena leader and film star Pawan Kalyan, who graced the inauguration, announced ₹1 lakh donation to each team taking part in the tourney. He even mentioned that he would try to pool in ₹1 crore as corpus fund to take care of the financial needs of the Cricket Board.
