Dubai: The Indian Consulate felicitated the India’s blind cricket team who won the Blind Cricket World Cup, beating Pakistan in the final on Saturday at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, in a colourful function at the Indian Consulate on Sunday.
Vipul, the Consul General of India, congratulated the team: “We are very proud of the team and wish them more success in future. The team’s achievement has won praise from India’s President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Nayudu and many top Indian cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar. We hope the team will continue to play great cricket to hold our heads high in cricket and I am sure that is going to happen.”
The team was ushered into the Indian consulate with drum beats and they entertained through a musical show. The cricketers also shook a leg to the tune of popular Bollywood songs like ‘Jai Ho’ and ‘Chak De India.’
Speaking at the function, India’s blind cricket team captain Ajay Kumar Reddy said: “The entire credit for the World Cup win goes to my team because even under pressure they played with a cool mind. I dedicate this trophy to the soldiers who devote their lives for the nation.”
The Consulate function was attended by India’s leading businessmen and cricket enthusiast Shyam Bhatia, who presented the team with a bat autographed by Sunil Gavaskar and a ball signed by Anil Kumble from his cricket museum. Some of the Indian team players who consider these two cricketers as their role models, immediately posed for photographs with the bat and ball.
“I have watched all the 50 over World Cup finals over the years and when I heard about the India’s Blind Cricket team winning the Blind Cricket World Cup, I decided to gift the team something that the team will cherish forever. I felt that a bat and ball autographed by two Indian legends, who had broken world records, will be apt,” said Bhatia.
