Richard Gould, the secretary of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), has contacted Jay Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), with a proposal to establish two national disability teams to promote the sport within various communities. The suggested teams would consist of a visually impaired team and a combined team for physically challenged, intellectually challenged, and hearing impaired individuals. In India, there is currently a Differently Abled Cricket Council of India (DCCI), a subcommittee of the BCCI, but the Indian board does not independently organise tournaments for disabled cricketers.
Discussions regarding this proposal are expected to occur during the ICC Annual Conference in Colombo, where Gould will be attending the Chief Executives Meeting. Gould's plan involves creating two international teams - a blind XI and a pan-disability team including deaf, intellectually impaired, and physically disabled cricketers. The goal is to host the first pan-disability tournament with five nations participating in 2025. Gould, along with Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley, PCB COO Salman Naseer, and CSA CEO Phletsi Moseki, are all in favour of this initiative.
Gould has pointed out the lack of structure and support for global disability cricket, stressing the importance of coordination and strategy across different forms of disability cricket. He believes that with 1.3 billion people worldwide living with disabilities, this is an overlooked market that should be prioritised. Ravi Chauhan, the head of DCCI, will also be present at the discussions in Sri Lanka to act as a liaison between his committee and the BCCI.