IN Indian any cricket live match Six Indian players will appear in New Zealand's State Championship in a bid to get some practice ahead of the three-Test series, Niranjan Shah, the Indian team manager has confirmed.VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid is priceless." India's coach Gary Kirsten felt NZC's gesture to accommodate the players set a good example for other boards.Their participation will be staggered over two rounds - Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Amit Mishra and L Balaji will play the matches between March 6 and 9 while Dhawal Kulkarni and M Vijay will join the competition for the next round, beginning March 13.
There was doubt over their participation because two of the state sides - Canterbury and Auckland - include ICL players and the BCCI's stance on the banned league prevented their players from joining any side that had cricketers from the league.
However the scheduling is such that the Indians will avoid playing alongside or even against ICL players.Auckland and Northern Districts have ICL players - Daryl Tuffey and Hamish Marshall - in their four-day squads but they already have the one permitted overseas player.