Combined northeast teams to play BCCI tournaments across age groups

BCCI president Anurag Thakur has said combined teams from India's northeastern states will be selected to play BCCI tournaments across all age groups going forward, to help develop young cricketers from the region. The Indian board will also help set up cricket grounds and indoor facilities in all the northeastern states, he said.

"The BCCI is committed to handhold northeastern states and bring them to the mainstream," Thakur said, after a visit to Nagaland and Meghalaya. "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."

Thakur met with cricket officials and coaches, and visited players attending the ongoing Under-16 and Under-19 camps in Dimapur and Shillong, which were organised by the BCCI and the National Cricket Academy (NCA). The BCCI said in a release that "former national and international cricketers, NCA-affiliated coaches, physios, trainers and video analysts are training the shortlisted boys from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Nagaland" at the camps.

The lack of formal cricketing activities in the northeast was one of the points touched upon by the Lodha panel, which was appointed by the courts to look into the functioning of the BCCI.