Tale Of Ajay Reddy: How The Indian Blind Cricket Team Captain Found A Way To Serve The Nation

Growing up, Ajay Kumar Reddy only wanted to become a soldier and serve the country. He was heartbroken when he got to know that the visually impaired cannot enter the army. But Ajay, who became partially sighted at an early age, soon found another way to serve India: by playing cricket and winning the World Cups. For his contributions, he will receive the Arjuna Award next month, becoming the first to win the honour from blind cricket.

Born in Gurazala, Andhra Pradesh, the Indian blind cricket team skipper lost his left eye in a freak accident when he was just four.

"My parents were farmers. One day I wasn't able to sleep when my parents had gone to work in the field," Ajay told PTI.

"I wanted my mother. As I got up, the latch of the door went inside my eye. I had surgery but I lost all vision in my left eye.

"I had some vision in my right eye but by the time I turned 12, I couldn't see the letters on the board." To avoid complete vision loss, the doctors advised Ajay's parents to take him to a blind school.

Ajay's parents thus moved to Narsarapet to enrol him into the Lutheran High School for the Blind in 2002, and he embarked on what would become a life-changing experience.

"I got to know about blind cricket at that school. I also heard that Pakistan was the number one team, that Pakistan has beaten India and they had just won the World Cup." It was a time when tensions between the two neighbours were at a high. The Indian Parliament had been attacked by militants and there was mass mobilisation of both nations' military forces at the border.

"I felt very angry. I had always wanted to become a soldier and at that time I kept hearing about the issue at the border. So my mindset was simple - India losing is wrong.

"Witho