NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian cricket board will throw open two tournaments and its national academy to Zimbabwe to help revive the beleaguered African team.
Officials agreed to extend the helping hand after a meeting with Zimbabwe Cricket Union chairman Peter Chingoka on Friday, said a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) statement.
"The meeting was to discuss the role the BCCI can play in the redevelopment of Zimbabwe cricket in the years to come," the Indian board said on Saturday.
A Zimbabwe President's XI will now enter the Deodhar Trophy one-day series in March and next year's Duleep Trophy first-class tournament.
The BCCI has also decided to extend the facilities at the academy for the training of players from Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe cricket has lurched from one crisis to another in the last few years.
The national team has not played a test match since January 2006 following a series of confrontations between senior players and the administration that left the side depleted.
Last March an independent audit also found serious irregularities in the Zimbabwe board accounts. The International Cricket Council (ICC) did not call for sanctions after deciding there was no evidence of criminality and no individuals gained financially.
An ICC task force formed to help Zimbabwe return to the test fold will submit a report to the ruling body's board meeting in Perth next week.
That panel was appointed last July when Zimbabwe agreed to skip this year's Twenty20 World Cup in England to end a deadlock over demands for its suspension from international cricket because of Robert Mugabe's government.
Zimbabwe lost a one-day series to Bangladesh 2-1 on Friday.
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