Lahore, Feb 12: Afghanistan cricket team coach Kabir Khan on Sunday said that India despite being an influential cricket power in South Asia has done little to help Afghanistan move up the international ladder.
Kabir, a former Pakistan Test pacer who has now been working with the Afghanistan national team for last few years except for a short break, said on Sunday that the Indian Cricket Board could do a lot more for Afghan players.
“If you look at England they go out of their way to support the associate cricket nations in their region including Holland, Ireland and Scotland by allowing their players to play in their county and league cricket and helping them with coaching programmes,” Khan said.
“In comparison in South Asia although they are four Test playing nations Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh we don’t get that kind of support from them except Pakistan. India has the influence and money to do a lot for Afghanistan cricket if they want. But so far we are still waiting,” Khan said.
He pointed out that the moment India starts providing proper support and encouragement to Afghanistan cricket, it would quickly move forward.
“There is a lot of passion for cricket in Afghanistan and they are good players but we suffer mainly because we don’t have a domestic cricket structure. We don’t get enough matches even in this region alone. Pakistan has supported us a lot but we still need support from the other cricket nations in this region particularly India,” Khan added.
The Afghanistan team is in Pakistan to play a series of two ODIs and a T20 match from Monday at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Khan said India needed to shed its psyche of looking at Afghanistan cricket as being similar to Pakistan cricket.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST