“In India, even in 2021, were still talking about the survival of differently-abled people. The conversation rarely goes beyond survival. However, there are a few Associations like the Board of Disabled Cricket Association (BDCA), which supports and organises tournaments for differently-abled cricketers.

Like the majority of Indians, I have always loved cricket from a young age. However, one incident turned my life upside down. I was 7 years old when I lost my left hand due to a massive electric shock. It happened at our hometown Hindupur, when I went to the terrace of my relatives home. I failed to notice the live wires hanging and touched them by mistake. I was immediately rushed to the hospital only to learn that I had to let go off my hand due to severe burns. I was too young to understand most of it but I had to accept fate. Nevertheless, I continued playing cricket with one hand with the support of my friends.

It was in the year 2003 when I got an opportunity to play disabled cricket for the Andhra Pradesh Disabled Cricket Team and there was no looking back ever since. Till date, I have played more than 500 matches in my career both within the state and national level and I am grateful for the support of BDCA. Today, I am a professional disabled cricket player representing Team India as a T20 captain. I am also the state secretary member of BDCA in Andhrapradesh. I have a lot of memories on and off the field in my cricketing career. My highest score so far was 99 and I certainly regret not getting that one run. It was a local match at Ananthapur and we chased down the target with a few overs left.

I am an ardent fan of Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and I even got an opportunity to meet him in Vishakapatnam at one of the tournament openings. We were promised to get the necessary support to take our Association forward so that we could do something for our country. We just hope we could get more support from the government and corporations so that we could get sponsorship for our future tournaments.”