Iran U-19 coach Asghar Ali Raeisi made an appeal to the BCCI, arguably one of the most influential cricketing body, for financial assistance to construct a world class stadium in Chabahar. Raeisi also requested BCCI to train aspiring cricketers in the region, hoping they make the cut for the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL).
The coach also mentioned Indian cricketing idols MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli have a huge fanbase among the cricket enthusiast in the country. Speaking to ANI, the coach also mentioned that he sometimes use videos of Dhoni and Kohli to help Iranian cricketers understand the game better.
“Iranian cricketers take inspiration from MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and other young Indian cricket players,” said Raeisi.
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Shedding light on the cricketing talent in Iran, Raeisi felt that the players are fulfill their potential due to lack of proper infrastructure and training facilities.
“Iranian players have talent to play good cricket internationally. But we fail to train them due to lack of infrastructure. I wanted India to help us to build the stadium so Iranian players can prove their mettle in the world,” said Raeisi.
“We want Indian cricket management BCCI to trained our players and umpiring in Iran so our players also can play cricket well,” he added.
He believes the assistance would lead to “Iranian players be part of IPL matches.”
People are also fond the Indian cricket team and fans in Iran were disappointed after India failed to win the recently played World Test Championship (WTC) final in Oval in June.
As per the report in ANI, the Chabahar Free Zone (CFZ) has reserved ten hectares of land for constructing a cricket stadium with a capacity of 4,000 seats.
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BCCI has helped cricket bloom in Afghanistan in the past and a host of players from the war torn country have participated in the IPL.
In 2017, Afghanistan got their home ground in Greater Noida, where they even played international matches against Ireland. The cricket body also provided them with venues at Dehradun and Lucknow.
Afghanistan have since given a host of cricket talents, with spinner Rashid Khan and former skipper Mohammad Nabi leaving a lasting impression. Apart from them, Mujeeb Ur Rahaman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Noor Ahmad, and Naveen ul Haq are some other popular names, who have taken part in the lucrative T20 league.
