No cash incentives or a civic reception for Mahender Vaishnav, the all rounder from Telangana who played in the team that won the 5th Blind Cricket World Cup. He rejoined duty two days after his arrival in Hyderabad from Sharjah.
A deputy manager in the State Bank of India Choutuppal branch, Mahender says he enjoys the success, but feels disappointed that the State government didn’t recognise his achievement.
“When every State was tweeting about the success, Telangana, which is mostly active on Twitter, not contributing a word of appreciation is sad,” he said.
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His wife Komal who later tweeted a reminder to Minister for IT K. T. Rama Rao of the success, on January 30, did not receive any reply. To add to his disappointment he failed to get an audience with Sports Minister T. Padma Rao Goud, the minister’s office sent Mahender and his father back twice citing some reasons, say his family members.
However, a determined Mahender says he wants to contribute to the movement of blind cricket by encouraging visually impaired enthusiasts.
“If there is a bias against the visually impaired, it should go,” he asserts.
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With full concentration on the sound of the bat and ball, coordination of players, noise around, and a risk of being hit anywhere — cricket and blind cricket are very different, he explains.
Mahender, in the B1 (fully blind) category in the game, has so far played 45 ODIs, 30 T20 matches, and holds the record of being the only bowler with a five-wicket haul, and for taking four wickets in an over.
He welcomed the move of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Sachin Tendulkar to give recognition to the blind cricket body and said that there is a large fraternity awaiting such a supportive hand.
Two weeks after the grand victory, Mahender still waits for one act of acknowledgement from the State government.