Roma Balwani Takes Charge As CEO And Brand Custodian Of India Deaf Cricket Association

Indian Deaf Cricket Association (IDCA), the governing body for deaf cricket in India, has appointed the award-winning communication specialist, Roma Balwani as its CEO & Brand Custodian effective from July 2022.

Ms. Balwani started her leadership journey in the nineties, from 2000 onwards and in a span of over three decades she has significantly contributed to the Indian PR and communication industry in various ways during a long and successful journey with leading organisations. She is also the Independent Director at John Cockerill, India, the leading manufacturing & engineering group specialising in cold rolling mill complexes for the Steel Industry, & chairs the CSR & NRC committees.

In her new role, she will be responsible for creating a corporate structure and establishing brand IDCA as the apex body for deaf cricket in India. 

Sumit Jain, President IDCA announcing this key appointment said, “We at IDCA are extremely delighted & overwhelmed, and welcome Ms. Balwanias our CEO & Brand Custodian. She has been a pillar of support, helped us mainstream Deaf Cricket in India & gave us the confidence to successfully host the first Deaf ICC T 20 World Cup with five nations participating, extremely grateful to the sponsors & many stakeholders she brought on board for this mega tournament. We are grateful & look forward to her immense contribution to create IDCA as a self- sustaining worthy non profit institution & help us gain recognition  world-wide for pioneering deaf cricket from India.

Speaking on the appointment, Roma Balwani said, "India is in the forefront in nurturing sports & has become a sporting nation with many wins both nationally & internationally.

I'm extremely honoured to be entrusted with leading this exciting new venture established in 2020 by Sumit Jain, who has a long term vision for IDCA to become a premier institution for Deaf Cricket in India. While holding the position of CEO at IDCA, my primary aim would be to nurture deaf youth to hone their cricketing skills and provide them opportunities to be coached and participate in tournaments in India and abroad. She added, I would work towards bringing in collaborations & partnership from like minded corporates & govt. & sports bodies. It gives me immense pleasure to be associated with IDCA to improve and promote deaf cricket." 

Ms. Balwani has been at the forefront in making deaf cricket mainstream as she successfully led the first ever Deaf-ICC T20 World Cup tournament in 2018, held in Gurgaon. The event gave IDCA an edge to be globally recognized, opening new opportunities and setting benchmarks in international tournaments.

In various capacities during her previous roles, Ms. Roma has taken key portfolios of sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility to new heights at Vedanta Resources Limited. Ms. Balwani was instrumental in building blocks for communications in the organisation from scratch and bringing out an impactful communications movement for younger generations to follow.

Apart from this, it is worth noting that the veteran communication specialist has also coveted the “Lifetime Achievement Award- 2022 Thought Leadership, Strategic Communications” for demonstrating great leadership and her contributions to the business world and society at large in the field of corporate communications. She has also studied management skills at Harvard Business School Executive Education in her earlier days.

With the primary aim to nurture deaf youth to hone their cricketing skills and give them opportunities to participate in tournaments in India & Internationally, IDCA is regarded as cricket's premier specially abled association which today leads & promotes Deaf Cricket in India & globally having 30 state level associations with over 30, O00 players from various state units for domestic cricket level tournaments.

IDCA is a member of the newly formed Differently- Abled Committee set up on the initiative of Mr. Jay Shah, Secretary, BCCI to promote disability cricket.