News

2013

In 2013, WE PARTICIPATED IN different events including:

  • ‘East Zone Cricket Tournament for the Blind 2013’ at Kolkata & we were runners in this tournament,
  • ‘National Cricket Tournament for the Blind 2013’ at Bangalore & we got 3rd position in the group,
  • ‘Inter-State Invitation Cricket Tournament for the Blind 2013 Org. by Rajasthan. Unbeaten Bengal Team in its own group defeated by Rajasthan in the final.

2014

In this year, an all Bengal Inter-School Cricket Tournament for the blind had been organized by an NGO held on 21st to 23rd March 2014 under the leadership of our President Mr. Chinmoy Mondal. Six teams participated in this tournament where Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Blind Boy’s Academy defeated Siliguri Blind School in final. As a consequence we got some talented players.

After 15 years, Bengal has been able to produce a player named Surojit Ghara who played for India against Australia in the T20 series which was played on 13th & 14th April 2014 at Bangalore, India, not only that, he played a measure role to win India in whole series. It must be mentioned that CAB (the Cricket Association of Bengal) has sponsored Surojit Ghara to participate in the said series. We acknowledge the support of the CAB with gratitude for sponsoring all the tournaments so far we organized. We are hopeful that they will extend their cooperation in the coming days.

2015

In 2015, CABB organized & participated in different types of cricket tournaments around the whole year. First of all, CABB participated in ‘22nd National Cricket Tournament for the Blind’ from 17th to 21st December 2015 in New Delhi. Beside that, this organization arranged a special coaching camp for the ensuing cricket world cap. Physiotherapy treatments were frequently organized for the benefit of the blind cricketers. CABB also encouraged school level blind cricket tournaments all round the year.

  • ‘East Zone Cricket Tournament for the Blind’ from 3rd to 7th November, 2015 at Macon Stadium, Ranchi, Jharkhand. Bengal reach final after defeating Bihar, Tripura & Jharkhand. In the final Odisha won the match & Bengal became runners.
  • In this year we participated in ‘23rd national cricket championship for the blind’ from 17th to 21st December, 2015 at Delhi. In this tournament Bengal performed very well with many closely fought matches the result of which could go either way but we were unable to win.
  • We try to organize coaching camp before every tournament. In this year we have organized two coaching camps:
    1. We set a training camp for Zonal Cricket Tournament, Ranchi from 27th October to 1st November, 2015 at Hind Motor, Hooghly.
    2. We organized a training camp for National Cricket Tournament, Delhi from 8th to 15th December, 2015 at Kakinara, Nadia.

2016

Consequently a long lingering ‘Cricket Association for the Blind of Bengal’ (CABB) was officially formed in 2016. Above all, Bengal blind cricket team participated in national level blind cricket tournament with Gujarat, Jharkhand, Hyderabad, New Delhi in this year as well.

  • We participated in an invitation tournament at Mumbai in the month of February 2016.
  • Bengal team participate in ‘State Bank of Hyderabad National Cricket Tournament for the Blind from 4th to 8th May, 2016 in Hyderabad. Bengal didn’t perform very well due to lack of practice & proper fund.
  • We are happy to share that, in 2016, Bengal blind cricket team went to participate in a ‘Bilateral Cricket Series for the Blind’ organized by Jharkhand cricket board (Cricket Association for the Blind in Jharkhand- – CABJ). In this tournament, we played three matches. Bengal lose first match & after that we won next two matches. In this series Bengal beat Jharkhand by 2-1 & won the champion trophy.
  • In this year for a second time Bengal blind cricket team went to participate in ‘Bilateral Cricket Series for the Blind’ organized by “Cricket Association for the Blind of Kerala – CABK”. Playing three matches. Bengal lose first match & after that we won next two matches. In this series Bengal beat Kerala by 2-1 & won the champion trophy.
  • We try to organize coaching camp before every tournament. In this year we have also organized two coaching camps:
    1. We set up a training camp for National Cricket Tournament, Hyderabad from 27th April to 1st May, 2016 at Rishra, Hooghly.

2017

In this year, we have arranged a lot of activities including:

  • We organized ‘East Zone Cricket Tournament for the Blind 2017’ from 22nd October to 24th October 2017 & we were runners in this tournament.
  • The Bengal blind cricket team participated in ‘24th National Cricket Tournament for the Blind 2017’ at Mumbai from 2nd November to 07th November 2017 & we got 3rd position in the group.
  • We organized ‘Zonal Committee Meets’ also arranged with the blind players and official stuffs in different states of eastern region.

2018

This year was also a grate year for us as 5 Players from Bengal selected for the World Cup Selection Trial held in Pune.

We are happy to share with you the Indian team’s victory at World Cup cricket for the blind held at Sharjah, UAE, from 8th to 21st January 2018. There were three players from eastern India, who were part of the Indian team at the Fifth ODI World Cup cricket for blind. Mr. Surajit Ghara made it to the 17 member Indian team and the first and only player from West Bengal to play for the country.
Keeping in view the pride and honors brought for the nation by the visual impaired sports person of eastern India, the felicitation ceremony was organized for them by Cricket Association for the Blind of Bengal in association with “Swarnym Foundation Kolkata” on Sunday 29th April at Shree Ram Sabhagar.

In this year “Aditya School of Sports” came forward to support Blind Cricket of Bengal. ASOS signed a contract with CABB for three years to promote Blind Cricket of Bengal.

  • Like every year, CABB organized AGM in this year at Aditya School of Sports Academy Hall, at Dumdum.
  • We organized coaching camp for Bengal Team to participate in the Nagesh Trophy Tournament at Aditya School of Sport Cricket Academy.
  • Bengal Blind Cricket Team participated in 1st ever Nagesh Trophy Cricket Tournament 2018 at Ambala & Jabalpur venue in the month of November & December.
  • On the 27th of November 2018, the state of Bengal hosted first time International cricket match India Vs, Sri Lanka at Jadavpur University 2nd campus cricket ground.
  • Our Bengal School Team Participated in East Zone School Cricket Tournament 2018 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha and qualified for semi final.

    • 2019

    • This year, we got lots of achievements as well. We organized Nagesh Trophy Semi-final & Final match at prestigious Eden Gardens.
    • When all the countries are affected by cricket fever, the Visually Impaired girls of Bengal are not far behind. This year first time CABB support an exhibition match for the Women’s cricketers of Bengal at Nabadwip. Nadia.
    • Like previous year, School Cricket Team of Bengal took part in East Zone School Cricket Tournament for the Blind at Muzaffarpur, Bihar in the month of April in this year.
    • CABB organized cricket coaching camp for Women’s in association with Siliguri Blind School in the month of May, 2019. This is the first time that, we organized to develop & create a Women’s cricket team for the blind of Bengal. Twenty blind school girls took part from different blind school in this camp. The girls are very interested to play the ‘Gentleman’s Game’. We selected 4 girls for Bengal Blind Women’s cricket team from this coaching camp.
    • We organized coaching camp for girls at Prerana Educational Centre, Siliguri in this year. 25 girls of different schools took part in this camp. We selected 2 girls for Bengal Blind Women’s cricket team from this coaching camp.
    • CABB celebrated fast time ‘Independence Day’ with blind school children at Bimbar Blind School, Siliguri. In this occasion we organized friendship exhibition match for school girls.
    • CABB organized selection tournament in association with Eureka Welfare Association. This tournament was only for North Bengal blind cricketer’s to select for the selection camp of Bengal Cricket team for the blind. We selected 8 players for Bengal cricket team selection camp from this tournament. The selection camp held in the month of October in this year at Paglachindi, Nadia.
    • CABB organized AGM at Nabadwip, Nadia in the month of September.
    • CABB organized Selection trial for 2nd edition of Nagesh Trophy in the month of October in this year at Paglachandi, Nadia. In this camp 70 players participated from all over the Bengal. We selected 20 squad Bengal cricket team for the blind from this camp.
    • Bengal Cricket team for the blind took part in the 2nd edition of Nagesh Trophy in two venue Pune & Chennai in the month of November, December in this year.
    • In this year, Bengal Women’s cricket team for the blind participated 1st Samarthanam National Women’s Cricket for the Blind at Delhi from 16th to 19th December.
    • CABB is very much active to promote & develop the cricket for the blind, not only in Bengal, but also out-side of the state. The state of Manipur organized a coaching camp at Imphal for creating Manipur cricket team for the blind on & from 3rd to 5th September, 2019 & invited a trainer from Bengal. We send Tanumoy Bhowmik & Surojit Ghara as trainer for the Manipur blind cricket team.
    • On November 2019, the blind cricket team of Bengal participates in an inviting tournament at Udaipur hosted by Rajasthan.

    2020

    State of Sikkim organized a cricket match on 20th February, 2020 at Gangtok to promote cricket for the blind for the cricket lovers of the state. They invited us to support & guide them. We send Mr. Tanumoy Bhowmik to promote cricket for the blind there. The cricket lovers of this state are very interested about cricket for the blind & we hope that in some time Sikkim will form their blind cricket team & will participate at the national level.

    We all are suffering from Covid 19 this year. Our cricket industry is suffering as well. We pray for all to be safe! We know, this period will go away some days and we will be able to focus our determination in the cricket again.

    Remarks

    The Bengal team under its guidance had performed admirably well in a number of national tournament as a mark of which a couple of players had gone on to represent the national blind cricket team. Mr. Surojit Ghara was one of the proud members of the Indian team which had lifted the Fifth ODI World Cup for the Blind in Dubai, UAE. Apart from him, Mr. Tanumoy Bhowmik also was selected to play in the Indian team in its tour of Sri Lanka, July, 2018.

    We warmly congratulate Mr. Surojit Ghara and Mr. Tanumoy Bhowmik for being selected in the Indian squad to play a triangular series comprising England and Sri Lanka and 2 bilateral series against Sri Lanka and England respectively. While the former is already a part of the world cup winning Indian squad, the later has showed his potential in the recently concluded bilateral away series in Sri Lanka. These two players demonstrated clearly that an unshakable resolve and consistent performance are the only benchmarks for playing international sport for a long time.

    Cricket veterans like Dilip Vengserkar, Syed Kirmani, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Rabichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Chris Gayle, Arjuna Ranathunga and Adam Gilchrist extent their valuable support for cricket for the blind.

    CABB strongly believes that visually challenged too have all the right to be a part of sporting glory. Cricket for the blind is a magnificent display of how the visually challenged triumph over all challenges of life and channel it through cricket. All through the journey of taking cricket for the blind to greater heights, CABB is grateful for all the support and encouragement received from various verticals. We seek further unfaltering support from one and all to keep the game on the go!