The Afghanistan Cricket Board has sought the help of the Indian board to develop cricket in the country. Officials from the ACB met BCCI representatives in Mumbai on Sunday to discuss how the Indian board could support Afghanistan cricket.
“We had a good meeting with BCCI honorary secretary (Sanjay Jagdale) and general manager for game development (Ratnakar Shetty),” Shahzada Masoud, the ACB chairman, said. “It’s in the initial stage. We want to build up good relations with BCCI. We want help to develop technical staff, coaches, umpires, scorers and video analysts.”
Also present at the meeting held at the Cricket Club of India was ACB’s high performance programme manager, Basheer Stanekzai. “We are preparing a new Under-19 team as the last World Cup team is over-aged.” he said. “We have selected a 20-member squad. We are working on it and preparing for the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) Under-19 Cup to be held in Malaysia from May 1 to 12. That’s the qualification round for the next U-19 World Cup. We need good coaches, especially in terms of batting.”
The meeting comes a week after Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan called on the BCCI to do more to help Afghanistan cricket, highlighting England’s support for their neighbouring Associate nations.