Zimbabwe continue to play one-day internationals

Indian cricket is to open two tournaments and its national academy to Zimbabwe to help revive their fortunes.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials agreed to offer its assistance after a meeting with Zimbabwe Cricket chief Peter Chingoka.

A Zimbabwe President's XI will now enter the Deodhar Trophy one-day series in March and next year's Duleep Trophy.

Players from Zimbabwe - currently exiled from Test cricket - can also train at the BCCI's academy.

Zimbabwean cricket has lurched from one crisis to another in recent years.

The national team has not played a Test match since January 2006 following a series of confrontations between players and administrators.

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.

That moved ended a deadlock over demands for the team's suspension from international cricket because of Robert Mugabe's ostracised regime.

Zimbabwe lost a one-day series to Bangladesh 2-1 on Friday.

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