24th National Cricket Tournament for the Blind to conclude in Mumbai

Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) affiliated to Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) and World Blind Cricket (WBC) today announced the Mumbai leg of the 24th National Cricket Tournament which will be organised by Cricket Association for the Blind of Maharashtra (CABM).

The zonal tournaments that started early this month will end next week in Mumbai, and two groups will have 4 teams each. Two teams from each group will be chosen on a point basis and then they will enter the Quarter-finals/Semi-finals and then the Finals.

The winners from this tournament will take away the trophy along with a cash award of Rs.50000/- and the runners-up will take away a trophy along with a cash award of Rs.30000/-. In addition, there will be special mementoes that will be given to Man of the Match, Man of the Series, Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Best Fielder.

This 24th National Tournament is a platform in selecting the Indian Team for the forth-coming 5th ODI World Cup at Dubai and Pakistan. This is organized by Pakistan Blind Cricket Council in association with World Blind Cricket Ltd (WBC).

Highlights of the zonal matches:

South Zone – The tournament for South Zone was played in Calicut on 12th to 15th Oct ’17 wherein 6 teams participated. The teams were Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The team from Andhra Pradesh led by Mr. Ajay Kumar Reddy and Karnataka led by Mr.Prakash Jayaramaiah qualified from South Zone to play in the National Tournament.

West Zone - The tournament for West Zone was played in Ahmadabad on 16th and 17th Oct ’17 wherein 5 teams participated. The teams were Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The team from Gujarat led by Mr. Ganesh Muhundkar and from Maharashtra led by Mr.Dilip Munde qualified from West Zone to play in the National Tournament.

East Zone - The tournament for East Zone was played in Calcutta on 20th to 22nd Oct ’17 wherein 4 teams participated. The teams were Tripura, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odessa. The team from West Bengal led by Mr. Tanumoy Bhowmik and from Odessa led by Mr.Jafar Iqbal qualified from East Zone to play in the National Tournament.

North Zone - The tournament for North Zone was played in Dehradun from 23rd to 25th Oct ’17 wherein 7 teams participated. The teams were UP, Delhi, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand and Haryana. The team from Himachal Pradesh missed this tournament due to heavy rains. The team from Haryana led by Mr. Deeepak Malik and UP led by Mr.Sanjeev qualified from North Zone.

Last Year, the 23rd National Tournament was held at Balsa and Cali in Gujarat. This was organised by CABI. Andhra Pradesh won the national championship and Gujarat won the runners-up trophy. This tournament helped CABI to pick up 17 good players who played the T-20 Cup in February ’17.