Afghanistan to get a home ground in India

Afghanistan to get a home ground in India.

In a spectacular development, India have offered one of their grounds to Afghanistan, with plans to host other Associate Nations as well as Full-Member A teams for competitive cricket.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the BCCI and the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) with the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority in order to use Shahid Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex as their home ground.

A BCCI release said that the ICC had recently cleared the ground for its use in games between Associate Nations as well as an Associate Nation and a Full-Member A team. The sports complex is situated at a distance of 40 kms from Delhi, the Indian capital city.

"Afghanistan was quite keen to shift their home base to India for some time now and it has been BCCI's vision to expand the game globally and help associate and affiliate members of ICC," said Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary.

"In this direction, we identified this ground and Greater Noida authorities were open and cooperative to offer this ground to Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB)."

Grateful for providing home base in India: ACB

The ACB has welcomed this step and has said that it will go a long way in boosting the relationship between India and Afghanistan.

"I am grateful to BCCI and particularly Mr. Anurag Thakur for offering us a home base in India. This is a historical day for Afghanistan cricket and this will strengthen the relationship between two countries,” said Shafiq Stanikzai, the CEO of the ACB.

He also mentioned that Afghanistan were trying for this for the past few years, and were extremely thankful to the BCCI as well as the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority for their co-operation and support.

This is a generous move by India and the BCCI, as it upholds the spirit of cricket that has been the tune of the global cricketing fraternity.

Afghanistan now have a home ground in India, and given the opportunities and the popularity that cricket possesses in the country, the day might not be very far when they actually compete against a full-member nation, maybe even India, while hosting them at this ground.

The team had won its first World Cup game back in February, when it defeated Scotland by 1 wicket in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.