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Maa Tarini CC wins special cricket tourney

— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

A match of cricket is on between Bargarh and Cuttack team on the concluding day of the two-day State-level cricket tournament for the visually challenged at Khallikote College Stadium in Berhampur on Sunday.

BERHAMPUR: Maa Tarini Cricket Club (MTCC) of Cuttack won the State-level cricket tournament for the visually -challenged, which concluded in the city on Sunday afternoon.

The MTCC defeated the team from school for the blind of Koraput by a single run in the nail biting final. The Cuttack team scored 142 for three wickets. The Koraput team lost three wickets to get 141 runs.

The top scorer of the match Bikash Sahu of MTCC who gathered 84 runs for his team was adjudged man of the match. Sukhram Majhi of the Koraput team was declared to be the man of the series.

This tournament was held for the first time in the city. This two-day championship was organised by the Milton Centre for Visually Handicaps (MCFVH). Six major blind cricket teams took part in this tournament. The teams that took part were from Berhampur, Bargarh, Koraput, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Balasore.

Ajay Samal, who is the founder of Orissa’s Cricket for the Blind (OCB) in 2002, said this game was now being played in 45 blind schools in Orissa. Around 700 visually impaired children of Orissa were attached to the game in Orissa.

The blind cricket team from Orissa was performing well in eastern zone during past few years. Mr Samal said with better infrastructure the state of blind cricket could improve in Orissa.

It may be noted that blind cricket is a special form of the game adapted for visually impaired players, who may be partially or totally blind. Major adaptation is the ball which is slightly larger than the cricket ball and has ball bearings inside to make jingling sound while it travels. This sound enables the visually impaired sense the ball to play the game.

The wickets are slightly larger and made up of PVC pipes to allow partially sighted players to see and blind players to touch it in order to correctly orient themselves when batting or bowling. Verbal signals have to be used by umpires and players.

The bowler has to shout ’Play’ as he releases the ball. The ball is thrown underarm so that it rolls on the pitch making ringing sound.Totally blind fielders are allowed to take a catch on the bounce.

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