IT is indeed a proud moment and an honour for Pakistan that it has been chosen to host the 5th edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from January 8-21.

Pakistan Blind Cricket Council (PBCC) will be organizing the mega event in which Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Bangladesh and Nepal will clash for the world title.

India will be defending its title while on the other hand, Pakistan will look to avenge their defeat against the arch-rivals in the final of the 4th Blind Cricket World Cup which was staged in South Africa.

The matches are scheduled at different venues including Ajman in the UAE, in Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujranwala.

Talented young player Nisar Ali will be leading Pakistan in the World Cup. The tournament will befittingly open with the all-important clash between Pakistan and India at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore which will also be staging the final of the mega event.

Pakistan will once again be looking to two of its best players — Badar Munir and Riasat Khan - besides a few other to play an important role for the team and win the World Cup for the country.

If we review the Blind Cricket World Cup history, the Asian nations have dominated the event by winning the titles three times, with Pakistan winning it twice and India once.

The inaugural World Cup in 1998 was won by South Africa who defeated Pakistan in New Delhi to become the first blind cricket world champion.

The second Blind Cricket World Cup was hosted by India in 2002 at Chennai and was handsomely won by Pakistan who beat India in the final under the captaincy of dashing skipper Abdul Razzaq.

Razzaq again led his team to second consecutive Blind World Cup title win in 2006 in Islamabad as Pakistan outclassed India again.

After a span of eight years, the fourth Blind Cricket World Cup was held in South Africa’s shore city of Cape Town in 2014 where Pakistan, defending the title, lost a close match to India who excelled under the captaincy of Shekhar Naik to win the close encounter by 5 wickets.

Besides the Blind World Cup fixtures, India on their home ground in 2016 won the Asia Cup for Blind and then lifted the 2017 World T20 title by defeating Pakistan in the final.

I had the honour of being the media manager of Team Pakistan in South Africa three years ago, and besides that, I have also witnessed the last three world events for the blind. In all of these tournaments, I have observed that while Pakistan have beaten India with big margins in the round matches, they have not been able to overpower the arch-rivals in the finals, something that really is a matter of concern for not just me but the PBCC as well, and of course my countrymen.

I strongly feel that to change the equation in the final against India, the Pakistan team management and the players will have to come up with definite strategic plans and develop mental toughness to emerge champions in the big game.

As far as blind cricket’s domestic structure and the system in Pakistan is concerned, it is supposed to be a robust, competitive one and a model for the other blind cricket playing nations for which the credit goes to Chairman PBCC Syed Sultan Shah and his team.

The preparations for the 5th edition of Blind Cricket World Cup started from May 2017 which included the organisation of various events by PBCC such as Blind Super League in Gujranwala, the PPL Cup in Islamabad and Inter-provisional blind premier league in Faisalabad.

In the first phase, 32 players were short listed followed by a training camp which was organised in Okara and Faisalabad. Finally, 18 players were selected for the national squad to represent Pakistan in the World Cup.

Successful former captain Razzaq who won two World Cup titles for Pakistan is now attached with the team as head coach and is working hard with the players.

I sincerely pray and hope that Pakistan team Inshallah gives the entire nation a great New Year’s gift by winning the World Cup next month.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017