History of Sound

From villages to the national squad, India's blind women cricketers battled disability, patriarchy and caste to win the inaugural World Cup. Beyond sport, their journeys reveal their fight for dignity

- Fozia Yasin

THE ball announces itself before it arrives.

A faint metallic jingle rolls across the ground, low and steady. India's Simu Das is at the crease. Her head slightly tilted. Listening.

In a country unkind to its women, blind women are taught to withdraw from public space. Her standing at the crease is an act of defiance.

The sounds that Simu follows are precise. The rattle of metal bearings inside a plastic ball, the runner's footsteps beside her, and the breath she held before the swing.

Simu swings. The bat connects, and the runner takes off for two runs. For a fully blind batter, that counted as four.

While much of the country was still celebrating the rise of the 'Women in Blue', another team was winning beyond the spotlight. India's blind women cricketers defeated Pakistan, and outplayed Nepal to lift the Blind World Cup. Their triumph didn't spill into prime-time debates or flood social media timelines. But for the women on this field, many of whom had grown up being told they were a burden, curse, or shrap, the win carried a meaning far heavier than a trophy. They were fighting for recognition in a world that still struggles to see blind women as women, let alone as athletes.

The tournament brought together India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia and the United States, in a round-robin format. India's 16-member squad came from nine states, spanning villages, landless labourer families, and blind schools, and had learned the sport only in the past few years.