Nathan McCullum News

Indian fans were out in force as India beat New Zealand by seven wickets to level the T20I series at 1-1.

Brendon McCullum rubbished rumours of his brother's death and vowed to find the person responsible for spreading the fake news.

Veteran Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi were all included in the 15-man New Zealand squad for the World Twenty20, which will be captained by Kane Williamson.

Nathan McCullum has played 84 One-Day Internationals and 61 Twenty20 internationals for his country, having made his debut in 2007.

The 22-year-old debutant removed Sangakkara (55) with the last ball of his tenth over and then had Jayawardene off the first of his next to leave Sri Lanka at 186-4 in their second innings at close on the third day on a Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch which had eased out for batsmen.

Cheteshwar Pujara became the second fastest Indian to get to 1000 Test runs, during the course of his double hundred against Australia in March at Hyderabad, where he put on a 370-run record second-wicket partnership with Murali Vijay. The 25-year-old Pujara has 1310 runs in 15 Tests at an average of 65.50.

The Black Caps, set a revised Duckworth-Lewis target of 198 in 23 overs, replied with 203-6 as Nathan McCullum hit spinner Rangana Herath for three sixes and a four to seal a last-ball win.

New Zealand were 13-1 in reply to Sri Lanka's 288-9 when heavy rain lashed the southern port city and wiped out the rest of the match. Earlier, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews hit half-centuries to lead Sri Lanka to a big total.

The 49-year-old, who played 93 Tests and 269 ODIs for his country, also seemed disappointed with the way Indian cricket board has functioned over the past few years.

Shikhar Dhawan's magnificent 71 was easily the innings of the night as it put to shade half-centuries from three other left-hand batsmen in the match.

The openers put on 121 as they made light work of a target of 169 set by Kandurata Maroons in Mohali

While skipper Lahiru Thirimanne is banking on the quality spinners and the experienced batsmen for the Champions League T20, coach Chaminda Vaas feels that the side will do well since they are extremely well balanced.

Shikhar Dhawan, despite missing out on the early part of IPL 2013, was the leading run-getter for Sunrisers, scoring 311 runs in 10 matches at 38.87. The next best was Parthiv Patel, getting 294 runs in 13 matches.

The 34-year-old Welshman's contract with county side Glamorgan expires at the end of the current season, but he intends to make himself available to play Twenty20 cricket.

Rangana Herath took 46 Test wickets in the qualification period, while ICC Cricketer of the year, Kumar Sangakkara hit 441 runs in two Tests in 2013.

England's cricket board has shifted the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka from May to June, giving the likes of Kevin Pietersen a chance to enjoy longer stints in the IPL

Sangakkara, under directions from SLC, opted to leave the Indian Premier League franchise Hyderabad Sunrisers, preferring to play for his local club Kandurata.

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar will play the last T20 tournament of his career. However, Mumbai Indians' regular skipper in this year's IPL Ricky Ponting will not feature.