Blindly in love with cricket

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In a cricket-loving nation, Rumana Iram could have been just another die-heart cricket fan. But she isn’t. It’s not just her winning more than 250 prizes through radio contests and emerging as the top contestant of one of the toughest cricket-based quizzes, ‘BIG Cricket Champions’ contest on 92.7 BIG FM recently, that sets her apart from contestants from all over the country whom she beat.
Rumana was born blind and grew up in a financially challenged family where her parents could not afford medical treatment for her sightlessness or provide her formal education. The cricket bug bit her when she was just five years old, recalls Rumana. “My father, Mahfooz Ur Rehman, used to listen to cricket commentary on radio. As a kid, sitting on his lap and cheering for the Indian team I learnt how to calculate net run rates and what was a bouncer delivery among other things,” says a cheerful Rumana.
Soon she started accompanying her father and brother to the gully cricket matches. If she wasn’t playing, she would be cheering for them as an audience. “My family and neighbours joke that if one has to look for me they should first find out where cricket was being played in our area or if there was a cricket commentary on radio or TV,” giggles Rumana.
Unlike those who could see, Rumana would sometimes go on turning the radio tuner knob until it broke. The radio needed to be repaired twice a day sometimes, confesses a rather shy Rumana. “I got full family support. No one ever stopped me from following my passion for cricket. My brother, Saif, also helped me get familiar with the sport’s minutest details,” says Rumana.
Instead of just keeping her passion and knowledge of the game to herself, Rumana decided to take part in cricket quizzes on radio. At a very young age Rumana started participating in a host of contests on Akaashvani. Making it to the top after winning seven rounds of questions at the BIG FM contest, she even impressed cricket commentator and host for the show Harsha Bhogle. “I was thrilled when he expressed his desire to meet me after I won the contest. Though one sports personality I would like to meet is Sachin Tendulkar,” says Rumana. However, Virat Kohli is becoming Rumana’s second most favourite.
She feels winning the contest will always be her most prestigious achievement. “By winning a big contest like this, I have reached a whole new phase in my life. My family is thrilled and I am getting continuous congratulatory calls from well wishers,” she says excitedly. After saving money, Romana has now invested in a second radio set. “The game must go on,” wraps up Rumana, who is all set to win many more cricket quizzes.