Sports belong to everyone and it’s one of the few things in life where the difference between winning or losing depends on your talent, hard work, determination and passion. Sports doesn’t look at your background, heritage or financial status. One can say it’s a platform where you’re truly judged on merit, a rare quality in an unfair world. 

In an exclusive interview with SPOGO, Ghazal Khan the CEO of Divyang Cricket Control Board of India spoke about cricket for the physically challenged, the obstacles she has had to overcome to make the Divyang Premier League (DPL) a reality, her future goals and more!

What led to the creation of Indian Wheelchair Cricket and Divyang Cricket Control Board of India and what are their goals? 

Divyang Cricket Control Board of India is a subsidiary board for physically challenged cricketers. It comprises of the wheelchair cricket team, disabled women’s cricket team as well as the deaf and dumb cricket team. It began in 2007 and was registered under the name of Disabled Sporting Society and was founded by my father. He believes that the physically challenged should also be able to enjoy the game of cricket and get recognition around the world because it’s their right. Since then until today, we have been struggling because we do not get the support that’s given to mainstream cricket such as sponsorships, media coverage or audience interest. However, this is changing slowly and people are becoming aware of cricket for the physically challenged. The DPL (Divyang Premier League) is our first step towards global awareness and recognition. It has given physically challenged cricketers a platform to gain respect and will only help us take further steps towards achieving our goals. 

What are the differences between mainstream cricket and the cricket format adapted for physically challenged cricketers?

Just like mainstream cricket has the International Cricket Council (ICC), cricket for the physically challenged has a body called the ICCPC which the Divyang Cricket Control Board of India is affiliated to. There are no differences between mainstream cricket and the cricket format adapted for physically challenged cricketers. The only minor difference is that for cricketers whose legs are severely affected are provided runners to help them take runs during the match. Except for this, it’s the same pitch, bat, ball, boundaries, grounds and umpires. 

How much of an impact has the Divyang Premier League (DPL) made on physically challenged cricketers around the world?

We have an umpire, Yogesh sir who was involved in this tournament (Divyang Premier League) who gave the DPL his own full form ‘Duniya Pehchane Lagi’. This shows what this tournament means to us and how much of an impact it has created. The dreams of thousands of cricketers are associated with the DPL and this tournament’s format will feature five international players, franchises will be purchased, bidding will be conducted just like the Indian Premier League and our goal is to give the same platform as the IPL for our players. 

What is the selection process to choose players who can participate in Physically Challenged Cricket?

As we are still struggling, it’s impossible to have a selection camp at one venue. The participants also have their respective professions because they don’t earn enough playing cricket. It’s difficult for them to leave their jobs every time there are trials so we select players through videos. When a cricketer has the passion to play, we can immediately recognize their desire and commitment and ask them to send us a demo video. If there are big tournaments that are being held then we do organize proper trials but it’s not possible to do this for every event. 

What are the challenges that you as the CEO of the Divyang Cricket Control Board of India have faced to organize tournaments for the physically challenged cricketers?

From the outside the Divyang Premier League (DPL) looked like a grand tournament and the players really loved it because it gave them an international stage to perform but one of the biggest challenges we faced was when our main sponsor backed out at the very last moment. We were shocked because it was a huge amount of money and we probably made a mistake trusting them but we have learnt from it. We could not even pay for the tickets of all our cricketers and we tried to pay for as many as we could. Unfortunately, a lot of players were left behind at our practice camp in Agra. Kamal Haasan sir sponsored the Chennai SuperStars team for their tickets and visa and MPL (Mobile Premier League) also helped us book around 35 tickets. This was our first and major challenge followed by paying for the ground, production costs and hotel stay. As they say, “if your intentions are pure the journey becomes easy” and after explaining our situation we managed to carry on with the tournament. We haven’t paid back our dues until now but despite this we were supported because the tournament was for a good cause. One of the other major challenges we faced was that 19 players tested COVID-19 positive before we could come back to India. Since then, eight players have recovered and tested negative while twelve people including my father are still there. We have faced one problem after another to organize just one tournament so you can imagine how challenging it is to organize every tournament. 

How important are tournaments like these for the physically challenged to show the world what they can do and live a life of dignity and self respect?

Cricket for the physically challenged is just an initiative to implement the law ‘Right to equality’ in the Constitution of India. Even though this law says that we are all equal, my belief is that this law is not implemented as it should be. Physically challenged individuals don’t get job offers, they don’t have many income sources and face a lot of tragedies. For example: the Indian wheelchair cricket team’s captain does not have a job and his mother cleans houses to make ends meet. This is the story of the captain of Indian wheelchair cricket team. Our purpose is not just to make physically challenged individuals play cricket but also help them financially so that they can survive. If by playing cricket they can make ends meet and take care of their basic needs then we should help them. 

What are your goals for the future of Indian Wheelchair Cricket and the Divyang Cricket Control Board of India?

My goal is to make our players financially strong and give them equal opportunities as mentioned in the Constitution of India to give them the same respect and dignity that everyone deserves. We want to do everything we can for the physically challenged to the best of our ability, not just in cricket but in whatever capacity. We are a family of 2000-2500 individuals and we help each other if any tragedy might befall on anyone of us. Last year during the lockdown, one of our players went through a difficult time when his mother suffered a heart attack and he could not afford the expenses. All the players collectively helped and solved the problem because we are a family. Just like any family, we also want to live a happy, content and peaceful life of dignity and self respect.