Photo Credit: Instagram Profile Photo of @jayshah220988 and LinkedIn Profile Photo of Richard Gould
Richard Gould, the secretary of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), has written to BCCI secretary Jay Shah with a proposal to establish two national disability teams in India—one for the visually impaired (blind) and one combined team for the physically challenged, intellectually challenged, and hearing impaired. This initiative aims to popularize cricket among these communities. Currently, the Differently Abled Cricket Council of India (DCCI), a sub-committee of the BCCI, oversees such efforts, but the Indian board does not independently organize any tournaments.
Discussions are expected to take place on the sidelines of the ICC Annual Conference in Colombo, where Richard Gould is scheduled to participate in the Chief Executives’ Meeting.
“We propose boards operate two international teams — a blind XI as a standalone format and then a pan-disability format with squads consisting of deaf, intellectually impaired and physically disabled cricketers. We would be keen and willing to host the inaugural pan-disability tournament involving our five nations in 2025. The ICC are keen to show collective support for this approach to ensure any steps are member driven,” Gould wrote in a letter, which was also addressed to Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley, PCB COO Salman Naseer, and CSA CEO Pholetsi Moseki.
In fact, Gould has addressed that the “global disability cricket is unstructured, unregulated and often unsupported. There are many different codes of disability cricket — blind, deaf, intellectual impairment and physical disability and there has been widespread lack of co-ordination and strategy that sits across all four.
“This has not been an area of sport we have collectively prioritised and although financial restraints are felt as prevalently now as ever, now is the time for us to come together to turbocharge the disability game,” Gould further wrote.
Currently, there are 1.3 billion (130 crore) people with various disabilities worldwide, and Gould believes this is an untapped market that needs to be engaged.
It is understood that Ravi Chauhan, the head of the DCCI, will be in Sri Lanka to participate in the discussions, as he has been the liaison between his committee and the BCCI.
