India's two-time blind World Cup-winning cricket captain Shekhar Naik is struggling financially and has requested India's sports minister Kiren Rijiju for a sports quota job as he is finding it difficult to survive with wife, Puja, 31, and two daughters, Purvika, 10, and Sanvika, five.

Bangalore-based Naik, 33, the only blind cricketer in the country to be honoured with the Padma Shri, led India to the 2012 T20 World Cup title in Bangalore and the 2015 ODI World Cup win in South Africa. He presently works for a private firm but the Coronavirus-forced lockdown seems to have hurt his company, and consequently, him. "My salary is R25,000 of which my house rent is R12,000. Somehow, I have been managing with that previously, but due to this lockdown, my salary has been on hold and I have not been able to pay rent for the last two months. My family is going through a hard time. I have used up most of my savings," Naik told mid-day on Wednesday.