Richard Gould, secretary of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), has reached out to Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), with a proposal to introduce two national disability teams in order to promote the sport among different communities. The proposed teams would include one for visually impaired (blind) individuals and a combined team for those who are physically challenged, intellectually challenged, and hearing impaired. Currently, in India, there is a Differently Abled Cricket Council of India (DCCI), a subcommittee of the BCCI, but the Indian board does not independently organise any tournaments for disabled cricketers.
Discussions on this proposal are expected to take place during the ICC Annual conference in Colombo, where Gould will be participating in the Chief Executives Meet. Gould's proposal involves having two international teams - a blind XI and a pan-disability team comprising deaf, intellectually impaired, and physically disabled cricketers. The idea is to host the inaugural pan-disability tournament involving five nations in 2025. Gould, along with Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley, PCB COO Salman Naseer, and CSA CEO Phletsi Moseki, are in support of this initiative.
Gould highlighted the lack of structure and support for global disability cricket, emphasising the need for coordination and strategy across different codes of disability cricket. He believes that with 1.3 billion people globally living with disabilities, this is an untapped market that should be prioritised. Ravi Chauhan, head of DCCI, will also be attending discussions in Sri Lanka as the liaison between his committee and the BCCI.