India's blind World Cup-winning pacer, Amol Karche is the lone Maharashtra cricketer in the Jamaica-bound national blind outfit, which will leave for the West Indies tonight from Bangalore. Karche was instrumental in India winning the 2014 ODI World Cup in South Africa where he claimed 12 wickets, including two in the final against Pakistan.

Though Karche is confident that his team will put up a good show in the blind cricket team's first-ever Caribbean tour, he has to deal with worries on the home front. "Even though I have represented India in the World Cup and Asia Cup, where we emerged champions, my achievements have not been recognised by the state government. On the contrary, the state government rewarded the national women's cricketers from Maharashtra [Smriti Mandhana, Mona Meshram and Poonam Raut] with R50 lakh each despite the Indian team failing in the Women's World Cup in England in 2017. A lot of other sportspersons were rewarded for their achievements at international competitions, so why should a blind cricketer beg for recognition?" asked Karche in a conversation with mid-day from Pune yesterday.