New Zealand to repay India’s ‘kindness’

To give India's Test specialists match practice before the series, the NZC has proposed that Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, M Vijay, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni and Amit Mishra be accommodated in their provincial sides in a March 3-6. match.

Chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, Justin Vaughan, confirmed on Saturday what HT had reported earlier.

HT Image

To give India's Test specialists match practice before the series, the NZC has proposed that Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, M. Vijay, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni and Amit Mishra be accommodated in their provincial sides in a March 3-6. match.

“India bent backwards to accommodate our wish for three Tests, so we have to give them some warm-up,” said Vaughan.

Niranjan Shah, manager of the Indian team, was hopeful the arrangement would work out. "It is impossible to have a 3-day game between the end of the one-day series and the start of the Tests, so we are looking at this arrangement,” he said.

It is still unclear how the players will be allocated to each team, random draw of lots being the most likely method.