For Samiul Sunday was just not another day, it could be counted as one of the brightest days of his life, when the second one-day international between Bangladesh and England took place at Mirpur.
While others were enjoying the crunch match of the series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, he was witnessing his long cherished dream coming into reality through watching Tigers play, live.
Samiul never dared to dream of watching Tamim Iqbal or Sakib al Hasan in action at home of cricket as he lost his eye sight when he was only six months old.
Samiul, the 19-year old, eldest of the three siblings of a Sherpur day-labourer family never believed that he might have glimpse of his cricketing heroes from the gallery stand as he had very little hope of regaining his eyesight.
Samiul’s fortune changed with the help of private channel Gazi TV and an NGO called Sightsavers as he regained his eyesight through their combined effort designed for their upcoming show ‘Swapno dekhe chokh’.
‘Today my dream came true as I could see some of my favourite players like Sakib and Tamim play in front of me,’ Samiul told New Age at Mirpur on Sunday.
‘From my childhood, I am a cricket fan,’ he said.
‘I always wanted to play with other children in my village. But they never took me in their team because I could not see anything.
‘But that did not stop my passion for the game,’ he said.
Samiul added that he could relish the thrill of the game by listening commentary as well as sitting in front of the TV set as it helped him get the feel of the game despite not being able to see it.
‘I used to listen to the commentary in radio and TV. Whenever there was a big match I would go before the TV set. May be I could not see the game, but I could hear the commentary and feel the thrill,’ said Samiul.
Samiul had a cataract operation at a hospital in Mymensingh in September while he regained his vision only 15 days back that had given him a new lease of life by seeing the world through his own eyes.
Gazi TV had helped 16 blind individuals all together to come out from the curse of darkness under the banner of their upcoming show that was to be launched on Sunday.
While others had many unfulfilled desire after regaining their eyesight, Samiul only wished to see Tigers playing that indicates his love for the game of cricket and how it revolved around his childhood.
Ismail Hossain Jewel, an official of Gazi TV, which holds the local television rights for the series, informed that people operated through Sightsavors NGO all had different wish.
‘Some of them wanted to see Quran while some were just happy to see their parents,’ he said.
‘Samiul had a different wish. Since he is a sports lover, he wished to see Bangladesh cricket team play an international match. We helped him fulfill his dream,’ he said.
-With New Age input
