New Zealand mulls sending cricketers for Indian domestic cricket stint eyeing 2011 WC

Wellington, May 8 (ANI): New Zealand Cricket is exploring the idea of sending promising players for a stint of Indian domestic cricket and Auckland opener Jeet Raval is one of those who might benefit from playing cricket in India.

New Zealand A or Emerging Players teams have often come to India for tournaments like the Buchi Babu event held in Chennai.

NZC believes that there could be greater benefit accrued by sending individuals rather than teams for matches, the NZ Herald reports.

The backdrop is the preparation for the 2011 World Cup, being hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which the NZC has discussed in detail.

The New Zealand team's visit to all three countries has been lined up between July and December this year, which should prove an ideal buildup to the World Cup.

According to the paper, Auckland's Jeet Raval and Josh Brodie of Wellington would certainly benefit from the experience.

"An emerging youngster spending a couple of months playing club cricket in India might be a better use of resources than just sending a team," NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said on Friday.

"We're trying to be quite selective and individualised in the way of preparing players and in some instances that may need to break the traditional mould of having teams touring. (The benefits of) sending players to the subcontinent for a period would be considerable," he said.

Vaughan said that New Zealand has struggled in the past to play spin well in the subcontinent, and added that to do well in the World Cup players will have to perform against Harbhajan Singh, Muttiah Muralitharan, or Saeed Ajmal. (ANI)