IT is indeed a proud moment and an honour for Pakistan that
it has been chosen to host the 5th edition of the Blind Cricket World
Cup along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from January 8-21.
Pakistan
Blind Cricket Council (PBCC) will be organizing the mega event in which
Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Bangladesh and Nepal will clash
for the world title.
India will be defending its title
while on the other hand, Pakistan will look to avenge their defeat
against the arch-rivals in the final of the 4th Blind Cricket World Cup
which was staged in South Africa.
The matches are scheduled at different venues including Ajman in the UAE, in Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujranwala.
Talented young player Nisar Ali will be leading
Pakistan in the World Cup. The tournament will befittingly open with the
all-important clash between Pakistan and India at the Gaddafi Stadium,
Lahore which will also be staging the final of the mega event.
Pakistan
will once again be looking to two of its best players — Badar Munir and
Riasat Khan - besides a few other to play an important role for the
team and win the World Cup for the country.
If we review
the Blind Cricket World Cup history, the Asian nations have dominated
the event by winning the titles three times, with Pakistan winning it
twice and India once.
The inaugural World Cup in 1998
was won by South Africa who defeated Pakistan in New Delhi to become
the first blind cricket world champion.
The second Blind
Cricket World Cup was hosted by India in 2002 at Chennai and was
handsomely won by Pakistan who beat India in the final under the
captaincy of dashing skipper Abdul Razzaq.
Razzaq again
led his team to second consecutive Blind World Cup title win in 2006 in
Islamabad as Pakistan outclassed India again.
After a
span of eight years, the fourth Blind Cricket World Cup was held in
South Africa’s shore city of Cape Town in 2014 where Pakistan, defending
the title, lost a close match to India who excelled under the captaincy
of Shekhar Naik to win the close encounter by 5 wickets.
Besides
the Blind World Cup fixtures, India on their home ground in 2016 won
the Asia Cup for Blind and then lifted the 2017 World T20 title by
defeating Pakistan in the final.
I had the honour of
being the media manager of Team Pakistan in South Africa three years
ago, and besides that, I have also witnessed the last three world events
for the blind. In all of these tournaments, I have observed that while
Pakistan have beaten India with big margins in the round matches, they
have not been able to overpower the arch-rivals in the finals, something
that really is a matter of concern for not just me but the PBCC as
well, and of course my countrymen.
I strongly feel that
to change the equation in the final against India, the Pakistan team
management and the players will have to come up with definite strategic
plans and develop mental toughness to emerge champions in the big game.
As
far as blind cricket’s domestic structure and the system in Pakistan is
concerned, it is supposed to be a robust, competitive one and a model
for the other blind cricket playing nations for which the credit goes to
Chairman PBCC Syed Sultan Shah and his team.
The
preparations for the 5th edition of Blind Cricket World Cup started from
May 2017 which included the organisation of various events by PBCC such
as Blind Super League in Gujranwala, the PPL Cup in Islamabad and
Inter-provisional blind premier league in Faisalabad.
In
the first phase, 32 players were short listed followed by a training
camp which was organised in Okara and Faisalabad. Finally, 18 players
were selected for the national squad to represent Pakistan in the World
Cup.
Successful former captain Razzaq who won two World
Cup titles for Pakistan is now attached with the team as head coach and
is working hard with the players.
I sincerely pray and
hope that Pakistan team Inshallah gives the entire nation a great New
Year’s gift by winning the World Cup next month.
