Another way of putting it is the IPL is encroaching further on international cricket’s turf.
The Black Caps have named a 15-strong ODI side for their tour of Pakistan which gets under way later this month.
The squad features a couple of potential debutants — Canterbury captain and all-rounder Cole McConchie and Auckland left-armer Ben Lister — while Chad Bowes (two games), Henry Shipley (five games) and Rachin Ravindra (two games) are pretty green as well when it comes to one-dayers.
They will join a more experienced core of the likes of Matt Henry, Henry Nicholls, Jimmy Neesham, Ish Sodhi and Tom Latham, who will captain the side.
But with the World Cup being staged in India later this year, the tour of Pakistan presented a good opportunity for the Black Caps to get in some game time in subcontinent conditions.
But Stead has been unable to name his strongest squad.
Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Glenn Phillips, Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell and Tim Southee have IPL commitments and are unavailable.
Kane Williamson returned home from the IPL yesterday having injured his knee — there is no update on his injury as yet.
They are all first choice players. But Stead said he was not disappointed he would be unable to call on their services in Pakistan.
"Not at all. I see it quite the opposite. I see it as a great opportunity for us to grow our depth.
"For me, as coach and head selector, the big carrot at the end of the year is the ODI World Cup.
"But for us it is still about finding ways that we can look at the full squad of 15 and give guys opportunities to come into the team, learn and play roles that we want them to play."
The Black Caps have added some experience to its management team.
Former Pakistan head coach and spinner Saqlain Mushtaq will join the coaching staff as an assistant coach.
“Having someone with Saqlain’s experience is a big boost for the group and we are looking forward to the insights he can offer us to aid our preparations for local conditions, and in particular the assistance he can provide to our spin bowling group.”
One of the players who will surely benefit from Mushtaq’s presence will be McConchie.
Stead has been impressed with McConchie’s production with the bat across the formats and he is a handy off-spinner.
“Cole has been a leader for Canterbury and at New Zealand A level for a number of seasons, but his contributions to winning games across formats really stood out this summer.
“His skill set with bat and ball is a valuable one, especially in the conditions we are likely to face on this tour.”
He has played five T20s for his country. Lister has a couple of T20s under the belt as well.
"We like his [Lister’s] ability to swing the ball both ways and he is obviously getting a run in T20 cricket at the moment."
"We see him as a player for the future and we like what we see in him."
Black Caps
ODI squad for Pakistan
Tom Latham (c), Tom Blundell, Chad Bowes, Matt Henry, Ben Lister, Cole McConchie, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Will Young
