Sumana Das, Pune
On August 24, Indian Women’s Blind Cricket Team created history by becoming the first team to qualify for the finals of International Blind Sports Federation World Games 2023(IBSA) in Birmingham.
Cricket for those with visual impairments made its IBSA World Games debut last week. On August 20, the Indian women’s team faced off against Australia in its inaugural match.
In the opening match India won by eight wickets. Restricting Australia to 59-6 the team finished the target like a piece of cake.
During the second match with England, India scored 268-2 in 20 overs with Gangavva H. making 117 runs in 60 balls and The English losing the match by 185 runs.
In the third match against Australia, the women in blue once again defeated them by 163 runs demonstrating an all around display of talent.
On August 24, again the team blue displayed their power strike and triumphed over team England by 153 runs. Opting to bat first India went into all fiery mode on the English bowlers after Simu Das stole the thunder by making 40 runs in just 18 balls.
During the first powerplay of Thursday’s match India made 79 runs with no wicket loss. With Gangavva H. stepping on the field at number 6 she kept the hype up as she striked 33 runs in 20 balls. With the runs overflowing from the team blue throughout the allotted 20 overs, they scored 217-5. The target seemed to be a tough spot for the opposition as they scored 64-4 in 20 overs. This is also India’s third 200 plus score in this tournament.
The women team will be facing Australia for the final match on August 26, Saturday. India has acquired 12 points out of all the 4 games with Australia and England gaining 3 points each. However, Australia has defeated England to advance to the tournament’s second final by virtue of net run rate.
As for the men’s game, Team India will be facing Pakistan for the finals on Saturday after defeating Bangladesh by 7 wickets on Friday.