New Delhi, June 17: India and Afghanistan today mutually agreed to work towards establishing cricket ties and as a first step a BCCI delegation would visit the neighbouring country soon. Though there was no immediate plan to send teams to each other's country, the groundwork was being done to ensure ties were established in near future, a top cricket board (BCCI) member Rajiv Shukla said.
"We have given assurance of our full help and cooperation to Afghanistan as we would like to establish ties with them," Shukla told reporters after a meeting with top Afghanistan cricket officials here.
"As a first step we will send a delegation to Afghanistan to assess the existing cricket infrastructure and then we will see how we can help them,” he said. "First and foremost we will help them build cricket stadiums and provide equipment. Right now there is no plan to play as our focus is on development of infrastructure," he said.
Afghanistan Cricket Federation (ACF) president Shehzade Mashud said his country was seeking the Indian government's support for developing the game as "India is our friend". "Cricket is quite popular in our country and with help from India we can go a long way," Mashud said. Bureau Report