By Surya Narayan Pradhan
Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling Indian blind cricket team member Md. Jafar Iqbal as ‘My friend from Odisha’ in a Twitter post while sharing a photo with Jafar on the social media site in recent past put the spotlight back on the Bhubaneswar-based blind cricket allrounder, who played a crucial game to help the Indian team lift the T20 Blind Cricket World Cup title by defeating Pakistan in Bengaluru this year.
After completing his B.Ed. in Special Education course from the University of Calcutta, Jafar opted not to become a teacher as he believes justice would not have been done to students because cricket is his first love. “To play the tournaments, I would have been compelled to stay away from taking classes for most of the time,” Jafar explains.
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At present, Jafar is working at the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation apart from playing for playing cricket.
Though Jafar has been playing the game for more than a decade and bringing glory for the country and his home state, the Indian blind cricket team allrounder alleges the blind cricketers in the country still fail to get the government ‘recognition’ and due encouragements like the sportspersons playing either for the Team India or at the State-level.
Odishatv.in talked to the pride of Odisha Md. Jafar Iqbal to find out more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2mR5UTDB1c