Cricketing ties on agenda during PM's Maldives visit

New Delhi: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on a two-day visit to Maldives on Saturday (June 8), cricketing ties will be one of the top agendas which will be discussed during the bilateral talks between the leaders of the two nations.

The Ministry of External Affairs is working with the BCCI to train Maldivian cricketers after the island nation's President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih sought India's assistance in developing the sport to international standard in his country, a top government official said on Thursday.

Addressing reporters, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said India is also looking into constructing a stadium in the South Asian country, which is another request made by it.

He said that India has agreed to build a cricket stadium in Male with the Line of Credit extended to the Maldivians government. The island nation will be the fifth country to become a cricketing nation in the South Asia. Other countries which play cricket are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

Gokhale also said that India provided training to Afghanistan cricket team and now they are regularly playing international cricket.

In April, Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih attended an Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Bengaluru and subsequently expressed interest to develop a cricket team in the Maldives and sought India's assistance in training this team and bringing it up to the requisite standard.

The Foreign secretary said the Board of Control for cricket in India has been advised to give Maldives required technical assistance in this regard and India has also sent cricket kits for upcoming players for both men and women team of that nation.

Replying to a question, Gokhale said that Maldives basically wanted India's help for training for their players, umpires, scorers and other matters related to the game.

Initially, the BCCI was not every keen to help the country, but after realising the potential of bilateral relation, the board has agreed to send one representative to study the ground situation for playing cricket.

During Solih's visit to Bengaluru, he was presented jerseys by Indian Cricket team captain Virat Kohli, former skipper M S Dhoni and IPL Chief Operating Officer Hemang Amin.

On the occasion, top BCCI officials, including General Manager Saba Karim, had given a presentation to the entire Maldives contingent.

Cricket Board of Maldives governs the sport in the island nation. It became a member of the Asian Cricket Council and an affiliate of the International Cricket Council in 1998.