It's a story that could well have inspired Bollywood's triumph-of-the-underdog movie 'Iqbal'.

An aspiring cricketer, whose career failed to take off because of a twist of fate, turned to coaching and reached out to kids who are unlikely to find support elsewhere.

But while the movie was about just one Iqbal, a deaf and mute boy who goes on to play for the Indian national team backed by a passionate coach, the real story has the coach mentoring several such special kids at an academy which does not differentiate between normal and differently abled children.

Since 2004, Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan inducts two to three special children in their cricket academy to train them alongside normal kids and coach Rakesh Rai says that's the least one can do to bring such children into the mainstream.

"For normal children there are numerous academies in Delhi but for special children there is no such opportunity.

"The special kids have talent but one needs to devote lot of time and attention towards them," Rai told PTI.

"No cricket academy has this much of time or is eager to take the pain of giving them the opportunity to play and mingle with the normal kids.

"In 2004 I took this initiative and every year we include 2-3 kids in our academy. I want to make these children independent through cricket.

"Earlier the normal kids used to treat them as special but now they treat them as their part. The more the interaction with normal people, the easier it will be for them to be a part of the society," Rai said.

A former right-hand batsman, Rai hails from Lucknow and represented Uttar Pradesh at the junior level. He had the ambition of playing for the country and he came to Delhi in search of better prospects.

However, destiny had other plans and after struggling to find his foot in the competitive world of sport, Rai finally resigned to his fate and decided to take up coaching.

"I passed out from Sports College Lucknow. I played junior level cricket for Uttar Pradesh and came to Delhi for better exposure but unfortunately, I didn't get it," Rai said, recollecting his days of struggle.

"I was struggling to earn my meals when I got a temporary job with Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan as coach. Then I thought why shouldn't I share my knowledge and experiences with others. With the support from school management, I started the academy in 1999," he said.

With a stable job in hand, the main focus of his academy is on quality and not quantity.

"My main focus is on school kids. I don't induct more than 40-50 kids in my academy because then you can't give attention to all. We charge nominal fees from those children who can afford. But there are some kids who can't pay us. There are some talented kids of lower grade school staffs who can't afford to pay, for them it is absolutely free," Rai added.

His academy has produced two Ranji Trophy players in Pawan Soyal (Delhi) and Robin Bisht (Rajasthan) and Rai said the mantra which he gives to his wards is to enjoy the game which in turn will open the gates of opportunity for them.

"I tell my boys to enjoy cricket and not think about playing for India or state," he signed off.

Spotted with your favourite sport star? Share your images with your sporting heroes on fanspeak@espnstar.co.in and we will put them up on the site. Here is your chance to mark your presence.