BCCI to form a combined northeast team

Shillong, June 1। Ignored for the past many years, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally woken up to the country's northeast. It is mulling to form a combined northeast team, which will participate in all national-level tournaments conducted by the board across all age groups.

Newly elected BCCI President Anurag Thakur, who visited the Under-16 and Under-19 BCCI-National Cricket Academy (NCA) camps in Dimapur and Shillong on Wednesday, said the board is also planning to set up a cricket ground and an indoor cricket facility in all the northeastern states.

Thakur, who was accompanied by BCCI's new area development programme chairman Avishek Dalmiya and other officials, said: "The BCCI is committed to handhold northeastern states and bring them to the mainstream. I am extremely happy with the two camps organised by the BCCI at Shillong and Dimapur."

"We have exciting talent coming through and the BCCI will give them a platform to excel. We have taken steps that will lay a solid foundation for cricket development in the northeast," he added.

Thakur also assured the region the board's support for cricket development and announced several steps that will help raise the profile of the sport.