I'm completely fine now: Abbasi

Zeeshan Abbasi’s incident shook up the blind T20 World Cup cricket, sending everyone into a tizzy, but later in the day the Pakistani skipper calmed the situation by stating that there was nothing to worry with regard to his health.

Abbasi, who had on Friday led Pakistan side to a eight-wicket win over arch-rivals India, accidentally consumed the contents from what he thought was a water bottle.
The bottle was in fact filled with a cleaning solution and was kept in the vicinity of the blind cricketers by some of the cleaners at the Movenpick Hotel where the teams are staying.

The skipper complained of throat irritation and was immediatly admitted to a hospital, from where he was discharged in the afternoon.

“I am completely fine right now. The treatment at the hospital was very good. I am going to play for Pakistan in the upcoming matches,” said Abbasi, who was back in his hotel later in the evening.

Abbasi incident sent a chill down everyone’s spine and the vice-president of the World Blind Cricket Council JK Mahantesh too rued the mishap. “This should have not happened but it is something that we could not have predicted. The hotel made a mistake and they have apologised to the Pakistan team for what has happened,” said Mahantesh, who is also the founder of the organisers of the T20 World Cup for the Blind -- Samarthanam Trust.

Three blind cricket World Cups (40-over) and several blind tournaments have been conducted all over India and the world, but such an incident is by the far the first of its kind. “There has never been an incident like this. Yes, they get bruised and hurt but all that is on the pitch and never off the field. Things went wrong this time but we will be extra careful in the future to avoid such a mishap,” said the former India player.

When asked if the team should have had caretakers, Mahantesh said: “There are always people around. Most times, travelling teams have five to six people with the side to help them out. But you should realise that these players are very independent and are capable of handling themselves. This was a one-off incident but we hope it doesn’t occur ever again.”