India, England team up to boost mixed disability cricket

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 (AFP): India and England cricket boards are swinging behind a push to popularise mixed disability cricket, launching a five-match T20 series this week in a bid to take the format global.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and India's governing body BCCI hope the series will accelerate efforts to stage the first Mixed Disability Cricket World Cup in India in 2028.
The format, which brings together cricketers with physical, hearing and intellectual disabilities, took formal shape only last year when England hosted India in a pioneering seven-match tour.
"Going forward, what we're hoping for is more countries joining because the format makes sense to the cricket boards," Ian Martin, the ECB's head of disability cricket, told reporters in New Delhi.
"And hopefully in the future we will have more bilateral series, obviously leading into World Cups and hopefully the Paralympic Games," he said.
"We believe we've got a format now that can work internationally and get more disabled people playing the game."
England coach Jason Weaver said he had been inspired by his "special" players, adding: "The standard has gone through the roof. It is really good cricket."
The Differently Abled Cricket Council of India (DCCI), backed by the powerful BCCI, is hosting the series across two venues with support from Jindal SAW Limited.
The first three T20s will be staged on the outskirts of New Delhi before the teams move to Jaipur for the final two games.
The first game will be played on Thursday.
India's para-cricket movement has been gaining momentum, highlighted by the women's blind team winning the inaugural T20 World Cup in December last year.