Bhutan cricket board opens indoor academy in Thimphu

The Board of Control for Cricket in Bhutan (BCCB) inaugurated the first indoor cricket facility in Bhutan. The academy located in the country’s capital of Thimphu is called the Thimphu Indoor Cricket Academy (TICA).

“Marking a significant milestone in Bhutanese cricket history, today witnessed the official inauguration of the first indoor cricket facility, known as Thimphu Indoor Cricket Academy (TICA),” tweeted the BCCB handle on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Anju Gurung, the vice-captain of the Bhutanese women’s cricket team, tweeted, “Wow, cricket indoor is finally here.”

Anju’s tweet doesn’t come as a surprise for people in a country that has been lacking basic infrastructure in western part of the country where the Capital is located.

In a previous report in https://theflyslip.online/early-buds-help-cricket-bloom-in-bhutan we had touched upon the lack of facilities in Thimphu and surrounding areas.

The international-level ground is located in Gelephu in southern Bhutan and it becomes tough for those in the west to travel down south to Bhutan, we had written in the above-mentioned report.

“The biggest problem for Bhutan cricket is not having a cricket ground. We have been fortunate enough to be given a ground which is almost ready. But the thing is that international-[level] ground is right down in the south but the cricket playing population is in the west,” Tandin Wangchuk, a former national captain and BCCB official was quoted as saying.

“There are two grounds in Thimphu, one belongs to a private school and the other one falls under the army. We have to seek their permission to use their ground. So there is one ground where we hold our tournaments – it falls under the army. That is not ours. They won’t [always] give it to us. The other one is the school ground which we use for tournaments too. These grounds are in the capital, Thimphu. For the game to develop further, there is an urgent need for a [separate cricket] ground in Thimphu,” Wangchuk had said.

It is no surprise then that the TICA has led to a big sigh of relief.

Cricket, Bhutan, Thimphu, Asian Cricket Council, ICC