Meet Madhya Pradesh’s first blind women’s cricket team that is batting against all odds

Far from the glitz and glory that the Indian women’s cricket team has earned over the last couple of years, young girls from schools and colleges across Madhya Pradesh are preparing for the upcoming National Cricket Tournament for The Blind. The tournament will be held in Bengaluru from February 28 to March 5, 2022.

This will be the first time that a blind women’s cricket team will be entering the tournament from Madhya Pradesh (MP) with 14 other teams. Sonu Golkar, a member of the Indian blind cricket team and captain of the MP blind cricket team, has been coaching the young girls to form a team to participate in the national tournament. He has given new hope to young girls, who are either completely sightless or partially blind, and some of whom hail from the tribal districts of MP.

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“We had been working on creating a state blind women’s team in MP for quite some time now but when we finally decided on trials last year in Bhopal and Indore. It was surprising to see 160 girls participate from across the state; not just coming from cities but also from really small villages in tribal districts. We’ve held trials for boys as well in the past but we never saw this kind of strength and excitement to want to learn to play the sport,” Sonu tells HerStory.

The players include Nikita (captain and wicket-keeper), Raveena (vice-captain), Geeta and Deepshikha from Betul district, Sushma from Damoh; Bhuri, Anjali Rawat, Sapna Ahirwar and Vishika from Gwalior; Anjali Yadav, Priya and Sarita Chourey from Hoshangabad; Varsha from Jabalpur; and Komal from Ujjain.

This excitement motivated Sonu who realised that this could become a big opportunity if the girls are given the right training.

Overcoming challenges

He is also cognizant of the discrimination young girls from remote villages face who have to struggle to come out of their villages. He adds that because they are also disabled, the discrimination is multifold. “All the credit goes to these girls for fighting back and convincing their parents to allow them to go to a different city for a sports trial,” he says. The girls came from Betul, Seoni, Shivpuri, and Chhatarpur among other cities and towns of MP.

In blind cricket, the B1 category player is completely sightless while B2 players are partially blind, with visibility up to three meters, and B3 players are partially sighted and can see up to six meters. A team consists of at least four B1 players who bowl 40 percent of the 20-over game and three B2 players and four B3 players.

Gwalior-based Sapna Ahirwar, who is a 16-year-old B1 player, started her journey in sports in 2011-2012. She has been a national running champion and a medallist. A yoga enthusiast, she created her own yoga team with blind and sighted people, and won a silver medal in a state-level competition.

She considers Sonu her role model in cricket and says that while she has been playing cricket informally, she only got to know about the blind women’s cricket last year when Sonu set out to build the team.

While studying in Class III, Sapna lost her sight when her optic nerve burst and she went completely blind. While it made her parents extremely worried, Sapna never lost hope. “I have so much to do. I want to become a tabla player, and now cricket has also become a huge priority. My studies have been going on as well. Where’s the time to feel worried? I know I have it in me to do so much more than people expect of me due to my disability. I’ll not let it define me,” a positive Sapna emphasises.

She lives in a hostel 10 minutes away from her house and finds that staying there allows her so many opportunities which she wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. “I got a message in my WhatsApp group for blind people, calling for a trial for the blind women’s team. My parents didn’t want me to come but my hostel warden and I convinced them that it was a good opportunity for me. They allowed me to come here on the faith of my hostel warden,” she adds. Six girls from her school attended the trial.

B2 player Anjali Yadav, who studies in Kesla Khurd village in Hoshangabad district of MP, is a judo player who is now trying her hand at cricket. She is a national-level player in judo and has also won two medals. Anjali says that her friend told her about the cricket trials for blind girls and she instantly got excited.

“I came for the trial and met Sonu sir. I realised if he could play cricket at the international level, then why couldn’t I? Life doesn’t give such opportunities over and over again and I believe in grabbing it as they come,” says Anjali, who didn’t have a problem convincing her parents to allow her to come for the trials.

“My parents are supportive and they also want me to become something,” she says.

Initially, Anjali found the sport extremely tough. “I couldn’t understand anything at the beginning and batting and bowling was so difficult but slowly I have got the hang of it,” she says, adding that she is confident that she can get selected in the state team and then in the national team as well.

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Hopes for the upcoming tournament

Sonu derives motivation from the hard work of young women.

The Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI), which is affiliated with the World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC) and is a subsidiary of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, headquartered in Bengaluru, supports this initiative along with Cricket Association for Blind in Madhya Pradesh (CABMP). Sonu shares that he also raises sponsorships and funds for local players.

With the national tournament approaching, the team has only gotten four months for selection and training but that hasn’t deterred Sonu’s confidence.

“More than me, it’s them who are excited and motivated to participate and that gives me hope. I told them that even if they reach the semi-finals, I’ll be happy but they hope to reach the finals. The way they are practising day in and day out is a matter of great fulfilment,” he shares.

After their performance in the national tournament, Sonu is already focused on the international tournament that will happen next year and he is hopeful to send at least two players from the state team to the national team.