Ajay Kumar to lead Indian blind cricket team against England | Cricket News

HYDERABAD: The Indian cricket team may not have been able to tame England in the recent series held in England but the Indian blind team has the chance to exact revenge when they host England in a bilateral series this month. Sri Lanka will later join India and England for a triangular series.

On Monday, the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) announced the team which will represent Indian in the three T20 matches in the first India-England bilateral series taking place in the country. The bilateral and triangular series will run from October 2 to 27. The T20 games will be held on Oct 2 to 4 at the SSE Sports ground, Tanisandra near Hajbhavan, Bengaluru.

Ajay Kumar Reddy of Andhra Pradesh has been retained as skipper of the team. The 28-year-old B2 category player had led the Indian team which won the 2017 Blind T20 World Cup and the 2018 Blind Cricket World Cup.

Sri Lanka will join to play the triangular series in Bengaluru and Goa and after which India and Sri Lanka will play a bilateral series in other parts of the country. The team for the Sri Lanka leg will be announced at a later date.

CABI has selected many new blind players keeping in mind the imminent blind cricket tournaments including the 3rd T20 World Cup in 2020 and 6th ODI World Cup in 2022. The same idea was implemented in the recent India-Sri Lanka bilateral series played in Colombo early this year and it proved to be successful in both identifying young talent and providing them an opportunity to play on the international stage.

“Blind cricketers are blessed with immense potential and the bilateral and triangular series is a perfect stage to display their determination. The India blind cricket team have been training intensely for the series and I wish them the very best. We, at Samarthanam and CABI, are thrilled and energized for the upcoming series and look forward to witnessing the extraordinary game of blind cricket,” said Mahantesh GK, President of CABI, World Blind Cricket and Founder Managing Trustee of Samarthanam.

The team:

B1 players: Basappa Waddagol, Mahesh Kumar Choudhary, Md Irfan, Anandu Shashi Kumar, Om Prakash, Umer Siddiq. B1 players: Ajay Kumar Reddy (capt), Ganeshbhai Muhudkar (WK), Venkatesh/Muniharan, Swapnil Wagh, Lokesh, Nakul Badanayaka. B3 players: Sunil Ramesh (VC), Durga Rao, Pankaj Bhue, Tandava Krishna, Chandan. Coach: John David. Manager: KN Chandrashekar. Physio: BV Srinivas.