Rain disrupted almost all of the second day of the first Test between New Zealand and England on Friday, with the hosts managing to extend their lead to 171 runs before they were forced from the field for good ahead of the final session.
The decision to create a separate window for IPL has played a massive role in qualitative growth of New Zealand cricketers, believes former seamer and current national selector Gavin Larsen. Another practical reason of having an IPL window is fear of attrition, considering that the cricketing talent pool in a country like New Zealand would be limited with a population of barely 5 million.
Factbox on World Cup match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval.
New Zealand, who made 249 in the first innings, were undone by the Sri Lankan spinners in their second spell as well.
'It's not really a surprise (the rule was changed). I genuinely think that no one ever thought that was going to happen and it did'
Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian in former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum's all-time cricketing eleven, which is led by West Indian great Vivian Richards.
Brimming with confidence after a clean-sweep in the Test series, India will look to carry on their dominance over New Zealand when the two teams lock horns in the first cricket One-day International of the five-match series, in Dharamsala on Sunday.
Opener Rohit Sharma countering Trent Boult's incoming deliveries will make for a fascinating contest, something that Virender Sehwag will be looking forward to during the ICC World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand, starting in Southampton on June 18.
India's bowlers highlighted the balance of their side as they set up an easy seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the second Twenty20 international at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. KL Rahul (57 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (44) then marshalled the run chase as they helped their side to reach 135-3 with 15 balls to spare, chasing New Zealand's 132-5.
The Indian-born 29-year-old, New Zealand's top domestic wicket-taker in the past three seasons, replaces all-rounder Mitchell Santner who is still recovering from knee surgery.
Mumbai Indians will be fretting over their team combination as they take on a marauding Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League encounter, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
Australian James Faulkner's superb all-round show helped Rajasthan Royals outclass Kings XI Punjab by 26 runs in their opening Indian Premier League match in Pune.
Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma struck scintillating half-centuries during a record 158-run partnership and powered India to a formidable 202 for three.
Andre Russell smashed an explosive 13-ball 48 to spoil Royal Challengers Bangalore's party.
Royal Challengers Bangalore pacers blew away the Mumbai Indians' top order before shining in the death overs to set up a much-needed 14-run win, which kept them alive in the Indian Premier League Play-offs race, in Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
India and New Zealand will fight it out for the inaugural title at Southampton's Ageas Bowl
Buoyed by their thrilling last-ball win against Delhi Daredevils, a confident Rajasthan Royals will take on a beleaguered Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League cricket encounter in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
The squad for the two Tests against India is set to be named on February 17, with the opening match starting four days later in Wellington on February 21.
Off-spinner Mark Craig captured the best figures by a New Zealand bowler on debut as the visitors beat West Indies by 186 runs late on the fourth day of the first Test at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica.
Images from Day 3 of the first Test between India and New Zealand, at Green Park, Kanpur, on Saturday.
Trent Boult took two wickets in one over and broke a partnership that had threatened to take the game out of New Zealand's reach as Sri Lanka reached 264 for seven by the end of a rain-shortened first day of the second Test on Friday.
New Zealand strike bowler Tim Southee will miss the upcoming One-Day International series against Australia but Blackcaps coach Mike Hesson is optimistic the seamer would recover from a foot injury in time for the subsequent Test series.
Senior New Zealand opener Martin Guptill was ruled out of the three-match series after failing to recover from a back injury.
Tom Latham led New Zealand's solid response with an unbeaten 111 against Sri Lanka's first-innings total of 244 on the third day of the second and final Test in Colombo.
Neesham replaced Doug Bracewell in the team while leg-spinner Ish Sodhi made way for Astle.
The lack of fight in the run chase was a big disappointment, as mentioned by captain Rohit Sharma in Wellington. Despite having eight batsmen in the eleven, India lost by 80 runs.
Batting first, Board President's XI made 295 for 9 in 50 overs and then bowled out the tourists for 265 in 47.4 overs.
Images from Day 5 of the first Test between India and New Zealand, at Green Park in Kanpur, on Monday.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said forgetting about results and getting the simple things right helped his side recover from the 3-0 drubbing by Australia to beat India, the world's top ranked Test side, by 10 wickets on Monday.
Ahead of Thursday's Indian Premier League player auction, Royal Challengers Banglore captain Virat Kohli assured the fans that they will cover all bases and pick a strong team for the next edition of IPL. Ahead of this year's IPL auction, RCB had released 12 players from their squad, while retaining 13.
Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor calmly guided New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Monday.
Check out the Rajasthan Royals squad for the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League.
Joe Root ended a poor run of form when he scored his 17th Test century and led England to 269-5 before rain ended play early on the third day of the second Test against New Zealand, at Seddon Park in Hamilton, on Sunday.
New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum smashed the fastest fifty in the history of the World Cup during the Group A match against England in Wellington.
New Zealand's pace attack of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner, however, made life difficult for the visitors
Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor scored centuries as New Zealand completed their World Cup preparations with a crushing 119-run win over Pakistan in Napier on Tuesday. It was their eighth win in their last 10 completed matches.
What went wrong for India in the World Test Championship Final against New Zealand?
Kane Williamson hit a century and Luke Ronchi smashed 24 runs off one explosive over when the match was still in the balance to steer New Zealand to a four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth One-Day International in Nelson on Tuesday.
Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne obstinately defied New Zealand's bowlers for much of the second day of the first Test at University Oval in Dunedin on Friday though the hosts still have the upper hand.
Kumar Sangakkara became the fastest player to reach 12,000 Test runs and will look to rebuild Sri Lanka's innings after they were left teetering at 78 for five at the end of the first day of the second Test against New Zealand.
