KADAPA: His love for cricket saw him overcome his disability and poverty. Alusuri Shiva Koti (34) from Thotapalem village in Nandalur mandal has been selected as one of the probables for a cricket match of the disabled between India and Bangladesh to be held soon. He is scheduled to join a coaching camp for probables to be held in Hyderabad from August 4 to 8.
With poverty binding his hands, he is looking for sponsors to realise his dream of playing for the country. In fact, Shiva has been playing cricket for the past 16 years with the help of sponsors. He has won man of the match and man of the series awards several times. He received accolades for his talent from Ajit Wadekar, Anil Kumble and other top cricketers. Shiva, a graduate, works as a village volunteer now. He has some congenital anomaly in his right hand. His parents are poor and they wash clothes to eke out a living. He is a left hand bowler and batsman.
He started practising cricket professionally from 2002. In 2005, he was trained by District Sports Authority officer Basha Mohiddin. Later, he got selected for an RDT tournament, which changed his cricketing career. For the first time, he represented Kadapa district differently abled cricket team as its captain and played well.
Siva hopeful of realising India dream
In 2008 and 2010, he represented Andhra Pradesh in the All India Physically Challenged Tournament as vice-captain and performed well in batting and bowling. In 2016-17, he played for the Rest of India A, and India B teams and won man of the match and man of the series awards. In Duleep Trophy, Shiva played exceedingly well as captain of Andhra Pradesh team. He performed well in the first national level tournament held under aegis of the Board of Disabled Cricket Association, in which 24 teams took part, and emerged as Man of the Series.
He also showed brilliance in the recent national-level T20 tournament for the differently abled. Board of Disabled Cricket Association selector K Rami Reddy was impressed by his performance and selected him as one of the probables for India-Bangladesh International Cricket Series. Shiva is hopeful of realising his long cherished dream of playing for India. He can be contacted on mobile No. 9676334033.