‘Blind’ hope

Look up again, at the headline; the pun used might or might not be giving away a bad flavour — depends on how you see it — however, for Pakistan’s Blind Cricket team, which is one of world’s best sides at the moment, it’s their strength — being blind.

The famous adage, “you lose some, you gain some” holds true in case of our visually-impaired cricketers who, even with a disability, have made Pakistan proud — an appearance in the second World Cup T20 for Blind final.

For argument’s sake, let’s discuss the notion that they lost to India in the final after being unbeaten throughout the tournament. But, considering the coverage that these cricketers got from our Pakistani media, minimal as compared to our national all-well cricket team, they did relatively better to hold the country’s name high — a job they were meant to do.

Moreover, if you look at India’s preparation for the world event, there blind cricketers were being supported by the main all-well team players. Advertisement featuring blind cricketers and the likes of Virat Kohli (blind-folded) to support their compatriots was a sight worth admiration.

Meanwhile, what did Pakistan do to motivate our visually-impaired cricketers? Nothing special.

If we list down the achievements of our blind cricket team, this editorial might have to be stretched beyond its word limit, but, to cut it short, they have won laurels for us which no other blind team in the world would be able to match, for at least a decade.

However, even after so much, you don’t see them being featured in newspapers, magazines or in morning shows. To be honest, we don’t even know the names of the players or recognise them when we see them.

So, they might not be entertaining enough, the blind cricket matches might not have enough monetary value, they also might not look as good and handsome as some our cricketers, but they are our national heroes who deserve praise and acknowledgement.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2017.

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