There was a loud cheer in the ground as both the batsmen crawled towards the pitch. Each run received a louder cheer, and each ball received applause from even the opponents. The T10 game was played with the true spirit of the Gentlemen’s game. With standardised rules and energetic players, the Paraplegic Cricket that was played in Coimbatore at Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya (SRKV) Grounds on Sunday stole the hearts of the fans, and was a true inspiration for all.

The rules of the game were simple. There are four rings drawn around the wicket. When the ball crosses the first circle, the batting team scores one run. Each circle gives one run to the batting team. While the first circle is drawn 24 metres away from the wicket, other circles are drawn an additional five metres away from the previous one.

With these stipulations, the scores were pretty impressive, with teams comfortably adding more than 100 runs in the ten overs. However, the thrilling moments of the game were when the crawling fielders dived on the ground to stop the speeding ball.

A two-day state-level Paraplegic Cricket Tournament was conducted at the Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya (SRKV) Grounds, on Saturday and Sunday, by the Tamil Nadu Paraplegic Cricket Association (TNPCA) and SRKV.

While seven teams participated in the state-level sitting cricket tournament, two teams participated in the National-level Standing Cricket tournament. Tamil Nadu won the match by more than 50 runs against Pondicherry, scoring 165, with Sunil from Tamil Nadu alone scoring an unbeatable century.

The state-level sitting trophy was lifted by Kanyakumari team, which beat Chennai in the finals with two overs to spare.

Commenting on the tournament, Mohammed Gadaffee, captain of the Chennai Cricket team, appreciated the efforts of the organisers for successfully conducting the tournament. “We need more such tournaments to keep our spirits up. Things like these make us happy and inspire us,” he told the Covai Post.

Mohamed Gadafee was instrumental in framing the rules for the game along with his teammate Shankaravel and Nagarajan, a board member of the TNPCA.

The players excelling at the sport will be selected for Paralympics Games.