New Zealand Cricket is looking at the idea of sending promising players for a stint of Indian domestic cricket.
New Zealand have often sent A or Emerging Players teams of about 15 to tournaments in India, such as the Buchi Babu event in Chennai, which usually sits handily as a run-in to the domestic season.
However, some players get little game time on those excursions and NZC believe there could be greater benefit accrued by thinking individual rather than team, the New Zealand Herald reported.
The planning for the World Cup, being hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in February-March next year, was discussed in broad detail at NZC board level recently.
New Zealand have visits to all three countries between July and December this year.
But the notion of up-and-coming players doing a stint in Indian club cricket is intriguing.
Batsmen such as well-regarded young openers 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 told the Herald.
"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," Vaughan said.
"I don't think it's any great secret that we have struggled in the past to play spin well in the subcontinent," Vaughan said.
"To succeed in the World Cup we are going to have to do well against Harbhajan Singh, or Muttiah Muralitharan, or Saeed Ajmal. There is more we can do to try and give players a wider group experience."
- NZ Herald / IW Online
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