In August 2016, the PDCA held the 5th National Disabled T20 Cricket Championship in Karachi with the participation of top players from all 16 regions. The good thing was that the majority of these top cricketers were also young players. On the opening day of this national championship which started on 14th August, the spectators were amazed to see the beautiful, emotional and exciting scene when the players and officials from all the 16 regions joined in the voice of the whole of Pakistan with great discipline. The national anthem was sung together at the national flag-raising ceremony. Every disabled cricketer present on the occasion considered himself a proud citizen of Pakistan and an important part of this society and enjoyed the same honor, status and status as any other respected Pakistani citizen. It is a truly proud and exemplary feat of the PDCA that it has given these people through cricket a value that could never have come to the disabled under normal circumstances.
The significance of this national championship was also due to the fact that new and young players from many regions were participating in it, many senior disabled cricketers had completed their ten years and now their game was also declining. That is why the coaches of various regions were staring at the young blood. In this context, the senior players had to fight for their survival in this championship, which made the whole situation very interesting. Jahanzeb Towana and Taloob Qureshi from Multan, Nahar Alam from Peshawar, Abdullah, Rao Javed from Karachi, Iqbal Hussain, Waqif Shah from Quetta, Ashfaq Shakir from Lahore, Aslam Pervez, Rehan Ghani from Faisalabad are still playing their best. Despite this, the field was empty for young players to show their talents and prove themselves.
Another highlight of the championship was that the best performing cricketers were awarded a motorcycle at the closing ceremony as never before. Five years ago, it was considered a big deal to give a motorcycle as a prize in cricket tournaments and this was also the case in Karachi’s Ramadan tournaments. This was the reason why the Pakistan Disabled Cricket Association also took a step in this direction and organized it after a lot of running for its disabled cricketers and when the PDCA announced that the championship Motorcycles will be awarded to the best athletes of the country, so their joy, enthusiasm and passion to do something was visible and commendable. Every disabled cricketer, whether senior or junior, has shown his best abilities. Comes .
The matches of the 5th National Disabled Cricket Championship were played at TMC Ground, Rashid Latif Cricket Academy, UBL Ground and KCCA Stadium while the final was played at the National Stadium. After 24 group matches, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Karachi made it to the semi-finals. In the first semi-final, Multan easily defeated Lahore by 6 wickets to qualify for the title match. Lahore managed only 130 runs, including 26 by Muhammad Shahbaz and 20 by Abdullah Ijaz. Ameez-ur-Rehman, Asif and Majid took two wickets each. In reply, Multan scored the required target in 16.2 overs. Qureshi scored 46 and Nasr Muhammad 38 runs. In the second semi-final, Karachi defeated Peshawar by six wickets. In the first match, Peshawar were bowled out for 89 runs. Nihar Alam scored 47 runs, Rao Javed took three wickets. In reply, home side Karachi 4 scored on the wicket, Waheed Khan 28 and Arif Richard 23 runs remained prominent. Gohar Ali took two wickets for Peshawar. Men were watching the field.
The final also proved to be low scoring in which Multan proved its superiority, Multan team was unbeaten in the event. Playing first in the final, Karachi were limited to 112 for eight, with Rao Javed scoring 33, Waheed Khan 26 and Haroon Rashid 18. Multan’s Zubair Saleem took 4 wickets. In reply, Multan achieved the target by two wickets in 16.2 overs. Wanted Qureshi scored 57 and Majid Hussain 46 runs. Zubair Saleem was declared man of the match. In the closing ceremony, the best bowler, batsman and fielder of the championship were given a motorcycle prize. These moments were very memorable for the prize recipients. Along with them, players from all 16 regions returned to their hometowns with many memories of the championship, which later became an asset to their lives. (to be continued)
The Pakistan Disabled Cricket Association (PDCA) is responsible for the promotion and expansion of the game through its associate and affiliate members throughout the country for all the Physically Disabled Cricketers of the country and PDCA is also recognized by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) who is the governing body of cricket in Pakistan.