Ravindra Sante: India’s Disabled Team Player giving regular players a run for the money in MCA Tournaments!

When a ordinary person does something extra-ordinary, that person is called “Special”. Imagine you are physically disabled and still asked to do a job or an activity which only a regular person can do on daily basis? Would’nt that be tough? Yes it certainly would be and here we bring an interesting story of a professional cricketer Ravindra Sante who is nothing but an inspiration for the determination and fighting spirit he shows on the cricket field.

Born to a regular middle class family in Dombivali, Ravindra was declared physically disabled with his right hand when he was hardly 6-7 months old, Ravi was brought up in a modest environment where he did not have access or any knowledge about professional leather ball cricket almost till he turned 18 yrs old. As a cricket loving teenager, he kept playing all forms of cricket right from gully cricket to maidan cricket and even represented his college team despite his right hand almost of next to no use due to his disability.

At the age of 19, he finally got the kick of professional leather ball cricket, he joined Boys Cricket Club under Coach Rajan Dhotre, he received training, started playing practice matches and then eventually progressed to higher MCA Affiliated clubs like Ours Cricket Club and Sainath Cricket Club which is one of the top division clubs of Mumbai Cricket Association. The crucial moment in his life came when corporator of his area arranged a handicap cricket match where he performed well, the organizer of the match Vikas Mhatre later took Ravindra to then Indian Handicap Team Captain Ravi Patil. Captain Ravi invited him to practice at Virar & Ravindra would wake up daily at 4:30am in the morning, reach there by 5 and practice there daily. Santes”s skills got noticed and soon he got selected for Maharashtra team at state level where he played Nationals in Ranchi giving impressive performances. 

The further transformation in his life came when he got to interact with Coaches at Sainath Sports Club namely Vivek Kadam, Bharat Mestri and S.N Pagdhare sir. Though, being a top division club, Ravindra got to play less matches at Sainath, but it was the guidance he recieved from those 3 coaches which motivated him & other players to play regular club level cricket. Ravi shared ” Vivek Kadam and other coaches at Sainath taught us and instilled belief in us that we can play normal regular cricket, Patghare sir also pushed us hard, he even made MCA Cards for us & that is how we started playing club cricket”

His all-round skills and ability with the bat and ball in hand got so popular, that by 2014, Ravindra got a call up to represent the Indian Team (Disabled) & that is where life took a big turn. It was a dream come true moment for him, holding the Indian Cricket kit, holding the English willow, entering the Indian Team Bus, wearing that Indian Jersey, those were many firsts for him! However, Ravi did not have a memorable debut getting out cheaply for 21 runs only to return back in the 2nd match to score a record 33 ball 100 for India in South Africa!

Since then, Ravi also represented India in Physical Disabled Cricket Cricket World Series 2019 at England and he alongwith the entire team made the country proud bringing the Cup home emerging  as World Champions! Ravindra played 5 matches in World Series taking 7 wickets alongwith 2 half centuries including a crucial half century vs England in the finals where India eventually became the World Cup Champions.

Story of Ravi has been nothing but inspiring but that’s not the end of it, Ravi continues to play professional cricket at regular club level in Mumbai playing alongside regular teams and regular players! What’s more, in 2019, representing Central Railways team, Ravi even bagged 2 fifers and that too seven wicket hauls in Times Shield which is one of the oldest marquee tournaments of Mumbai Cricket.

Ravi remembers taking 7/40 vs JP Morgan & 7/23 vs Navi Mumbai Police in the 2019  Times Shield stunning the cricket world with his grit and determination. Ravindra also has a fifer vs Gaud Saraswat CC in Kanga League”19 representing Bohra Cricketers apart from bagging a man of the match award in T20 Samat Cup in 2020. Ravindra has played in almost all the major MCA Tournaments and cut down to 2021, he plays for Bohra Cricketers and his team has already qualified to the semi finals of MCA Madhav Mantri Centenary One Day Tournament’21 at C&D Division.

The story of Ravindra inspires each and every sportsman to have a fighting spirit and never give up no matter how challenging the situation gets! Here’s wishing the World Cup Winner & our very own Mumbaicha porga Ravindra all the luck for a great cricketing career ahead.