Odisha Scripts New Chapter In Cricket For Visually-Impaired

Bhubaneswar: The Cricket Association for the Visually Impaired (CAVI), Odisha, successfully organised the first Bilateral Inter State Cricket Tournament for the Visually Impaired at the Hi Tech Cricket Stadium on September 8 and 9.

Odisha emerged the winners in the best of three T20 matches of the series, beating Andhra Pradesh 2-1.

The matches were played with true competitive yet sportsmanship spirit. The two best teams of India had seven Internationals among them. Md Jafar Iqbal, Sukhram Majhi, Pankaj Bhue and Lingaraj Rautra of Odisha, and D Venkateshwar Rao, T Durga and A Prem Kumar of Andhra Pradesh had played for India in the past.

The series was closely contested and Odisha won the last match chiefly due to the contribution of its captain Md Jafar Iqbal, who scored a 49 ball 53 with 4 fours and 1 six and helped Odisha go past the 200 mark. Chasing 205 to win, the Andhra Team fell short of 51 runs.

Md Jafar Iqbal played a crucial role with the ball, bagging two vital wickets including that of the rampaging AP captain D. Venkanteswar Rao. His deft captaincy also came to the fore while setting the field and making the bowling changes that brought down the AP team.

The closing ceremony held on Sunday was graced by State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Dr Minati Behera, CEO of Hi Tech Group Bhisma Rath, vice president of Bharati Rath Memorial Academy of Special Human Abilities Arpita Mohapatra, internationally-renowned adventure sports specialist Pradipta Rath, area director of Special Olympics Bharat-Odisha Prakash Rath and a host of officials of Hi Tech Medical College.

T Durga Rao of Andhra Pradesh bagged the Player of the Series Trophy in the B3 category, Pankaj Bhue of Odisha bagged the Player of the Series in B2 category and Md Jafar Iqbal bagged the Player of the Series in the B1 category. D Venkateswar Rao, captain of the AP team, received the runners-up trophy with his team while Md Jafar Iqbal lifted the winners’ trophy with the Odisha team.

The players of the series and both the teams also received cash awards. The series was conducted in collaboration with Hi Tech Medical College, BRM-ASHA, SOB-Odisha and Open Learning Systems.