Ajay Reddy, India's blind cricket captain to recieve Arjuna Award

It’s a great day in Indian cricket as Ajay Kumar Reddy who is India’s Blind cricket team’s captain will be receiving the Arjuna award next month. He led the team to victory in the 2017 Blind Cricket T20 World Cup and the 2018 Blind Cricket World Cup. This is a great achievement since this is only awarded to the best sportsmen in the country. He will also be the first blind cricketer to receive this prestigious award and certify himself as a legend. This will be something for the people to cherish, celebrate and be inspired to do something that Ajay has achieved in his career as a visually impaired man.

Ajay made his debut in Blind Cricket in 2010 at the age of 20 against England. His amazing performances led to him being the Vice-captain of the India Blind Cricket team in 2012 and he was also selected for the inaugural 2012 Blind T20 World Cup which was led by Shekhar Naik. His 33 ball hundred in the final against England was one of the iconic moments in his career which set his career for the future. He was appointed as the new India captain in 2016 and led India in the 2016 Blind T20 Asia Cup which they won by defeating arch-rivals Pakistan in the finals.

The Story of Ajay Kumar Reddy

The story of Ajay’s life is really inspiring where the man first had aspirations to be a soldier and serve his country. However due to being partially sighted he was left heartbroken that the Army does not recruit visually impaired men. Ajay also told about the story of how he lost his sight as well saying “My parents were farmers. One day I wasn't able to sleep when my parents had gone to work in the field. I wanted my mother. As I got up, the latch of the door went inside my eye. I had surgery but I lost all vision in my left eye. I had some vision in my right eye but by the time I turned 12, I couldn't see the letters on the board." Ajay was quoted as saying by NDTV Sports.

This led to Ajay’s parents moving to Nasarpet to enrol him in a blind school where he was introduced to the game."I got to know about blind cricket at that school. I also heard that Pakistan was the number one team, that Pakistan had beaten India and they had just won the World Cup. I felt very angry. I had always wanted to become a soldier and at that time I kept hearing about the issue at the border. So my mindset was simple - India losing is wrong. Without knowing the rules I decided I would play for India and make them win the World Cup." these were the lines said by the great sportsman on why he chose to play the game and was determined to win the World Cup.