India defeats arch-rival Pakistan to win World T20 for Blind

Bengaluru: Defending champions India have won T20 World Cup for Blind, beating arch-rivals Pakistan by nine wickets in the final at M.Chinnaswamy stadium here on Sunday. Prakasha Jayaramaiah’s 99-run knock fired India to a stunning win.

Prakasha dug into the Pakistan attack, smashing it to all parts of the ground to help India win with 14 balls to spare. He found the ropes 14 times in his 60-ball inning.

Chasing Pakistan’s total of 198 runs, India got a good start with openers Prakasha Jayaramaiah and Ajay Kumar Reddy going all guns blazing. Duo partnered the crease in an 110-run stand for the first wicket. After the fall of Reddy, Ketan Patel was looking in superb touch before he got retired hurt playing a 26-run knock of just 13 balls.

Earlier, Pakistan, opting to bat first, lost its first wicket at the score of 58. Later, disciplined Indian bowling left Pakistan losing wickets on a frequent note. Badar Munir (57) was the leading run-scorer for Pakistan side. Munir’s 37-ball inning was studded with eight fours and a biggie.

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For India, Ketan Patel (2/29) and Jaffar Iqbal (2/33) were the leading wicket-takers.

With this win, India equalled Pakistan in terms of winning number of World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC) titles. Both the teams have won the WBCC titles twice (Pakistan – two Blind World Cup, India – one Blind World Cup and one T20 Blind World Cup) while South Africa had won the title once in 1998.