Indian women and men’s visually impaired cricket teams steal hearts at HBG Cricket Day function

Although the morning threatened to be a complete washout, eventually, after a light drizzle, the sun came out making it a lovely afternoon for a round of cricket.

In the competitive section, where the teams aimed for the GBS Trophy, the Indian High Commission team - led by Ankit Tiwari – emerged the winner.

The final was a keenly contested match where the Indian High Commission beat the Harrow Mayor - HBG team by two runs.

Sujit Ghosh, Deputy High Commissioner (High Commission of India, London, UK) was the highest run scorer, while British Member of Parliament Padma Shri Bob Blackman, playing for the Mayor of London- HBG combined team, was the highest wicket taker.

The man of the match was 15-year old Aryan, a resident of Ruislip.

However, the highlight of the event was the presence of the Indian women and men’s visually impaired cricket teams.

While the women's team won the first ever edition of the blind cricket at the IBSA World Games, the men’s team won the silver.

The tournament was part of the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Games 2023 held in the United Kingdom.

The visually impaired players engaged in a short demonstration game and explained the rules of the game for the spectators present.

The teams were felicitated by the Mayor of Harrow, Councillor Ramji Chauhan, Bob Blackman MP, sponsor GBS representative, HBG Director Anirban Mukhopadhyay and other dignitaries who were present there.

Head coach John David appealed to the community for greater support for visually impaired sports from the diaspora.

Mahua Bej, Vice President of HBG said, “Our aim is to create awareness about the challenges visually impaired people face in sports and see how we can facilitate their funding.”

Harrow Councillor, Mathew Goodwin-Freeman, thanked everyone for their participation and support and proposed that it to be an annual event.

The Mayor in his speech also said the Council is keen to work in partnership with HBG to host the Indian festival of Holi in March 2024.

Blackman spoke about the importance of cricket in the Indo British relationship. 

Deputy High Commissioner Ghosh thanked the organisers and said the High Commission will always be in support of such community activities leading to diaspora connection.

For Heritage Bengal Global volunteers Sourav Paul, Anuran Sarkar, Manas Chatterjee the day was a culmination of weeks of planning and hectic activities.

Anirban Mukhopadhyay, director, HBG thanked sponsors GBS for their support.