Tarun Nethula

India 'A' squandered a strong start to hand the initiative to New Zealand 'A' as they were left struggling at 136/4 at the end of the opening day of the first unofficial Test.

Virat Kohli (92) and S Badrinath (81) shone with the bat as India spanked defending champions New Zealand by 5 wickets to reach the final of the Emerging Players Tournament.

In a bizarre turn of events, Jeet Raval managed to send a ball over the boundary for a six even after the ball hit the bowler's head. The incident occurred during New Zealand's domestic 50-over competition Ford Trophy on Wednesday.

New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori, who is suffering from a groin injury, is likely to miss the two-match Test series against India, starting from August 23.

After Dipak Patel, Jeetan Patel, Ronnie Hira and Tarun Nethula, there is a new generation of cricketers with sub-continental origins who dream of wearing the black cap for New Zealand.

A listless display by India 'A' allowed New Zealand 'A' to win the third and final unofficial ODI by 65 runs and square the three-match series 1-1 on Sunday.

Dean Brownlie pulled NZ 'A' out of troubled waters with a century as India 'A' lost their control over the hosts at stumps on Day 3 of the second unofficial Test.

Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith struck boundary-studded fifties to spur West Indies to a 9-wicket victory over New Zealand in a rain-shortened first ODI.