London: India’s Mixed Disability Team held its nerve and sealed a thrilling two-wicket win over England in the last over at Lord’s in the third T20I of Mixed Disability Vitality seven-match IT20 series at the Lord’s Cricket Ground.
The occasion was historic as it was the first-ever international Disability match at the ‘Home of Cricket.’ The date, venue and the result of the match all made for a tremendous coincidence- 42 years back, India, led by the legendary Kapil Dev, had clinched the 1983 World Cup on June 25 at Lord’s in 1983.
“We dedicate our team’s historic win to Kapil Dev sir’s team’s 1983 World Cup-winning team,” said Ravi Chauhan, the general secretary of the Differently-Abled Cricket Council of India (DCCI).
Both teams wore black armbands during the match to mourn the passing away of former India left-arm spinner Dilip Doshi on Monday in London.
June 25 is incidentally celebrated as the ‘World Mixed Disability Day.’ The fixture at Lord’s formed part of the Cricket Disability Day, and was the biggest ever one-off showcase of disability cricket, as it was the first time that India and England’s mixed Disability teams played at Lord’s.
Hosted by the MCC, ECB and Lord’s Taverners, the game was the showpiece event of this series.
India’s Mixed Disability team is now trailing 2-1 in the series after losing the first two matches at Taunton and Wormsley Cricket Club. In a first, all the seven matches of the series are being streamed live on Sony Liv.
Led by a magnificent show with the ball by seamer Vivek Kumar (three for 16 in three overs) and left-arm spinner and captain Ravindra Sante (three for eight in four overs), India’s Mixed Disability team restricted England to just 123 for nine in 20 overs after the hosts elected to bat first. A.
Brown was the lone warrior for England with a brilliant half-century (77 off 47). Brown added 35 for the ninth wicket with A Pyle (4 not out) off just 17 balls to help England cross the 100-run mark. He took 18 off the last over bowled by spinner Tarun, smashing him for two sixes, to give the hosts’ total some respectability after they had collapsed to 49 for seven in 12 overs.
Staving off a superb fightback by England with the ball, India scampered to the target in the final over, losing eight wickets. The hero of the chase was middle-order batter Sai Akash, who made 44.
There are four more matches left in the series, with the next game to be played on Friday (June 27) at Worcester.
Brief Scores: England’s Mixed Disability team 123-8 in 20 overs (A Brown 77; Vivek Kumar 3-8, Ravindra Sante 3-8) lost to India’s Mixed Disability team 124-8 in 19.1 overs (Sai Akash 44) by two wickets.
(IANS)
