Three cricketers from South Gujarat, including Surat’s 39-year-old all-rounder Pravin Wankhede, will represent India in the upcoming 3-day bilateral T20 cricket tournament of disabled persons to be played in Agra from March 12 to 15. The other two players are Chirag Gandhi and Mahmud Patel from Navsari district. The trio has left for Agra and are likely to play in all the three T20 matches.
Excited about his selection, Pravin said, “I performed very well in recent selection tournament where I bagged the man of the match in the finals and the man of the series awards. This opened the doors of international cricket for me.”
Coming from a humble background, Pravin has been playing cricket for the last nine years. He suffers 40 per cent disability after he lost one of his heels while driving a tempo as the delivery man. Father of four children, the 39-year-old wants to win a match for the country on his own and also make his family proud. “We have been encouraged by the Viklang Kalyan Trust to play cricket. We are grateful to our coach Sameer Chauhan and others for providing us with such an opportunity,” Pravin said.
