Ex Pak blind captain Razzaq describes India as toughest opponent

Karachi, Apr 27(ANI): Former Pakistan blind cricket team captain Abdul Razzaq has rated India as his toughest opponent in the sport

"Whenever you have a match against India in any sport, you always have this in your mind that you must win the match. There is a psychological pressure and when that happens, whilst you do play well, the probability of errors also increases proportionally. Some players fail to cope with the pressure and they get emotional. At that time, you have to calm them down which is a tough task especially during India-Pakistan matches," PakPassion.net quoted him, as saying.

He described the 2002 World Cup victory as his favourite, pointing out that they were granted visas at the eleventh hour and their journey to India lasted for about 24 hours, but lifted the cup despite facing hassles.

Highlighting his role in the administration of cricket, he said he is the president of the Lahore region and deals with issues for the area and added that he aims to set up a cricket cademy where school level children can receive training.

Reflecting on the difficulties encountered by blind cricketers in Pakistan, he said here is not enough sponsorship for blind cricket in Pakistan.

"Whenever we have to organize a major tournament or an international series, we have a really hard time looking for sponsorship. An average cricketer receives PKR 500 ($USD 6 or GBP 3 pounds) per match in domestic cricket. When a player travels from Karachi to Peshawar to play a match, his expenses must be around PKR 30,000 ($USD 330 or GBP 205 pounds)- we give him only PKR 4,000 ($USD 44 or GBP 27 pounds)or PKR 6,000 ($USD 66 or GBP 40 pounds)," he added.

He advised blind cricketers to have self-confidence and will-power to achieve their goal.

"If the Almighty has deprived you of vision then He has also blessed you with other talent. Utilize that talent and try to get better and better at it," he added. (ANI)