Director Subhash Ghai may have impressed many with his film "Iqbal" portraying the life of an impaired person but he failed to keep his date with deaf and dump cricketers here Monday.

The occasion was the closing ceremony of the Deaf Cricket World Cup with nine participating nations.

Ghai, who had promised to attend the ceremony, apparently forgot about it. And so did Bollywood star Sunil Shetty, who had also promised to attend the ceremony to provide some glamour to this otherwise low profile 11-day event.

Only singer and anchor Rageshwari was there to compensate for the bigger missing Bollywood names.

However, the absence of glitterati did not dampen the spirits of the deaf cricketers from the nine teams: England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Nepal and hosts India.

"The revival of the World Cup series has given the boys a big boost and they look forward to a more regular schedule," Kashmira Singh, the Deaf Cricket International Federation president and chief of All India Cricket Association for the Deaf, told.

The Indian team was very excited after winning the World cup. Runners-up England was thrilled as Rageshwari chose to sport their cap for the ceremony.

The event might have been totally devoid of the glamour quotient usually associated with cricket - thanks to poor media coverage - but that did not mar the enthusiasm of participants.

Some of the cricketers even aspire to be a part of their nation's regular team.

"The best part about this cricket is that rival teams - despite their vast geographical social barriers speak one language - that of symbols. These boys have proved that cricket is a game without boundaries," observed Singh.