Not Champions Trophy 2025!! England Cricket Boards sends a special request letter to BCCI

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) secretary, Richard Gould, has reached out to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Jay Shah, with a proposal to increase the popularity of cricket among differently-abled communities.

Gould proposed to bring in two national disability teams to India: one for visually impaired (blind) players and another combined team for those who are physically challenged, intellectually challenged, and hearing impaired, to help popularize the game among people with disabilities.

ECB proposes two disability cricket teams to BCCI to increase popularity

Currently, India has a Differently Abled Cricket Council of India (DCCI), which functions as a sub-committee of the world’s richest cricket body, BCCI. However, the BCCI does not independently organize any tournaments for the differently-abled communities.

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Well, in a letter to his counterparts at the BCCI, Cricket Australia (CA), Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), and Cricket South Africa (CSA), Gould has proposed the establishment of two international teams: a dedicated Blind XI and a pan-disability team.

Further discussions are expected to take place during the ICC Annual Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where the ECB secretary will attend the Chief Executives Meeting. It is being said that Ravi Chauhan, the head of the DCCI, will be in Sri Lanka to attend the meeting for this agenda. Notably, Chauhan has been serving as the liaison between the DCCI and the BCCI.

ICC is keen to show collective support for this initiative: Richard Gould

In his letter to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, CA CEO Nick Hockley, PCB COO Salman Naseer, and CSA CEO Phletsi Moseki, ECB secretary Richard Gould wrote as reported by PTI: “We propose boards operate two international teams -- a blind XI as a standalone format and then a pan-disability format with squads consisting of deaf, intellectually impaired and physically disabled cricketers. We would be keen and willing to host the inaugural pan-disability tournament involving our five nations in 2025. The ICC is keen to show collective support for this approach to ensure any steps are member-driven.”

Currently, there are 1.3 billion people with various disabilities worldwide, and the ECB secretary sees this as an untapped market that needs their attention. Furthermore, Gould has highlighted that "global disability cricket is unstructured, unregulated, and often unsupported," saying there is a need for more organized efforts to reach and engage this differently-abled community.

Gould further mentioned in his letter: “There are many different codes of disability cricket -- blind, deaf, intellectual impairment and physical disability and there has been widespread lack of coordination and strategy that sits across all four. This has not been an area of the sport we have collectively prioritized and although financial restraints are felt as prevalently now as ever, now is the time for us to come together to turbocharge the disability game.”

Notably, Ravi Chauhan, head of the DCCI, has recently thanked Harbhajan Singh for deleting a controversial dance video with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina on his request, as it was seen as a mockery of the differently-abled persons.