The Chabahar Free Zone (CFZ) has specially reserved 10 hectares of land for a cricket stadium (Photo/ANI). Image Credit: ANI

By Ashoke Raj A cricket coach in Iran has appealed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to visit Chabahar and construct a world-class cricket stadium and to impart training to Iranian players with better infrastructure so that they can excel in international cricket.

In an exclusive interaction with ANI, Asghar ali Raeisi, the Iranian U-19 coach has also expressed a hope for Iranian cricketers to play in the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL). Iran is yet to develop an international cricket stadium in Chabahar. Much thanks to the US sanctions, this Middle Eastern country has been unable to raise enough funds internationally and build infrastructure for a cricket stadium.

Raeisi said that seasoned Indian cricketers MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are the most celebrated cricketers here among the Iranian cricket players. "Iranian cricketers take inspiration from MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and other young Indian cricket players," said cricket coach Raeisi.

He also said that he uses videos of players like Dhoni and Kohli to train the Iranian cricketers for better performance. He also underscored that Iranian players despite being talented are unable to play good cricket internationally in the absence of better training and appropriate infrastructure and equipment.

"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," Raeisi told ANI. The Iranian cricket coach has made an appeal to the BCCI to come in Iran and established world class cricket stadium and to also impart training on cricket umpiring.

"We want Indian cricket management BCCI to trained our players and umpiring in Iran so our players also can play cricket well," Raeisi told ANI. Apart from this, Iran's Under-19 cricket coach Asgar said that the Iranian fans were recently disappointed, when India failed to win the World Test Championship (WTC) finals earlier in June this year.

He also said that the Iranian players participating in Under-16 match in Chandigarh-Panchkula in India subsequently boosted the morale of Iranian cricket team in the country. "We would also expect Iranian players to be part to IPL matches," he said.

The Chabahar Free Zone (CFZ) has specially reserved 10 hectares of land for a cricket stadium with a capacity of 4,000 seats. Due to US sanction Iran is not able to develop the sports complex in Chabahar and is eagerly looking for investors. Iran's location is strategically importantly as Iran shares border with Pakistan and Afghanistan and is important to India due to its active role in terms of trade, investment and infrastructure. (ANI)