‘We want India to help us build a stadium’ – Iran Under-19 coach Asghar Ali Raeisi on Iran’s future in International Cricket
Iran U-19 (Source: Twitter)
Iran’s under-19 cricket coach Asghar Ali Raeisi has urged the Indian Cricket Board to help them in building the country’s first cricket stadium in Chabahar. The Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone (CFZ), which was established back in 1992 has reserved 40 hectares for a sports village out of which 10 hectares have been allotted for a cricket stadium with a 4000-seat capacity.
“Iranian players have the talent to play good cricket internationally. But we fail to train them due to a lack of infrastructure. I wanted India to help us to build the stadium so Iranian players can prove their mettle in the world. We want Indian cricket management to train our players and umpiring in Iran so our players also can play cricket well. We would also expect Iranian players to be part of IPL matches,” Raeisi was quoted as saying in ANI.
Iranian cricketers take inspiration from MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli: Asghar Ali Raeisi
Cricket has slowly become popular in the southern Chabahar and Balochistan regions of Iran because of their close relationship with neighbours, Pakistan. The sport in Iran was started back in 1910 by British workers, but it decreased once the sector was nationalized in 1951. The people of Iran who were studying abroad in the 1990s brought the sport back to their country. Iran became an affiliate member of the Apex Cricket Council in 2003 and an associate member in 2017.
The Cricket Governing body granted the T20 status to all their members in 2018, and the Iran Cricket Team has played some matches against teams like UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar. Raeisi also claimed that he shows videos of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to inspire young cricketers. “Iranian cricketers take inspiration from MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and other young Indian cricket players,” he asserted.
In the end, the Iranian head coach stated that they were disappointed as India lost to Australia by 209 runs in the World Test Championship final last month at The Oval, in Southampton.
