GURUGRAM: Batting with one hand and amassing 1,460 T20I runs isn’t easy. But to this left-hand amputee farmer’s son, who never learnt the word ‘quit’, wielding a
cricket bat comes as naturally as pulling a plough.
Ravinder Kamboj (32) is an all-rounder who led India’s differently abled team to a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka in a T20 series in Colombo last week. Kamboj, along with his team mates, was in the city on Thursday to give a pep talk to a bunch of schoolchildren at Blue Bells Public School, Sector 10. “I want every student to know that the word ‘give up’ should not exist in dictionary,” said this die-hard
Kapil Dev fan.
Coming from a farmer’s family in Fatehabad (Haryana), Kamboj always believed that he would have no other option but to take to the field for livelihood. On a summer afternoon in 2010, he did and lost his left hand in a freak accident.
“I was working in the field. I had taken some crop and put them in a cutting machine. I don’t know how my left hand went between the machine’s blades and before I could know I was left with only one hand,” he recalled. Many people around him gave up on him, but he didn’t.
“So, I picked up the cricket bat and underwent training in my hometown for three years. It took me years to practise how to bat, field and bowl with one hand,” he said. “Initially, he faced a tough time catching with one hand but eventually I learnt how to swing ball and wield bat with one hand,” recalled the all-rounder who today boasts 134 wickets in the format.
Kamboj said none of his team members lacked the passion to play for the country but unlike their counterparts, Virat Kohli & Co., they had so far failed to attract enough spectators and sponsors.
“We play the game the same way Virat and others do. We use the same leather ball and our ground’s dimensions are more or less the same. But we don’t get spectators or support from any organisation,” he said.
“I cannot rely on cricket to make ends meet. There have been tournaments when we all had to pitch in to buy jerseys. We would appreciate if BCCI take over our team like it did with the national women cricket team,” Kamboj said.
