The Oman Cricket chairman Pankaj Khimji was appointed as the vice-president of the Asian Cricket Council from 2022-23 on Saturday at a ceremony held at the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Pankaj Khimji has served as the Chairman of the ACC’s Development Committee. The ACC works towards organizing, developing, and promoting cricket in Asia. Speaking on the occasion of his appointment, Pankaj Khimji said as quoted by The Arabian Stories,
“I’m truly honored and humbled to have been appointed the Vice-President of the ACC for 2022-23. It is a great privilege and also an honor for Oman Cricket and Oman as a country to have been given this recognition for all our achievements and all the infrastructure developments that have happened in the country over the years.”
Pankaj Khimji appointed as the Vice President of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) & Mahinda Vallipuram appointed as Chairman, Development Committee pic.twitter.com/nfc87Ms2kc
— ANI (@ANI) March 19, 2022
“It is a testimony as well to the Oman Cricket team who have been true flag bearers and I think this has been a joint effort on behalf of everyone involved. My appreciation and gratefulness also go out to His Majesty Haitham Bin Tariq Al Said whose support has always extended to Oman Cricket and its members for all these years,” he added.
Looking forward to help make Asian Cricket into a global force: Panjak Khimji
Vice President of ACC, Pankaj Khimji further added that he is looking forward to working to make Asian Cricket a global force in cricket. He said,
“We have an exciting 18 months to 2 years ahead, to come up with lots of plans for the development and growth of Asian Cricket. Hopefully, in the next few months, we will try to re-energize and reinvigorate it. I look forward to working with Jay Shah and the administration team to help make Asian Cricket into a global force in the game”.
In an interview last with, Pankaj Khimji spoke about developing cricket in Asia by supporting the associate nations. He expressed that if the associate nations get more access to high-level cricket tournaments, it will encourage their development. The Arabian Stories quoted,
“The Asia Cup is massive for cricket in Asia. It provides a lot of funding which then trickles down to the associates that helps us in all the developments that we want to do. We need to find – in the very busy calendar of the big 5 (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan) – some space to get them to play in the Asia Cup and find a way to involve more associate nations to give them encouragement and exposure at that level.
Thankfully, whenever these big nations play there is never going to be a dearth of television coverage and incredibly today, their second teams can almost go ahead and play in these events, such is their strength in depth. If we can provide more access to high-level cricket via methods like these to all the teams in Asia, it will definitely aid the development of the game in the region,” Pankaj Khimji added.
Get the latest cricket news here and like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.