India has withdrawn from next summer's cricket tour to New Zealand, apparently at the mutual agreement of both boards, the New Zealand Herald newspaper has reported.

While New Zealand Cricket remains silent about the issue, International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani told Herald sources the tour would not proceed as initially scheduled.

Instead, the likelihood was that the visit would be postponed until a date more acceptable to both boards, possibly as distant as November, 2008.

India were supposed to tour New Zealand in February, 2007, playing an undisclosed number of Tests and one-dayers in what would have been a final hit out before the start of the World Cup tournament in the West Indies.

Mani said it was "not an arbitrary decision", and that both boards had been in agreement.

"This decision was taken before the new BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) regime took over. It was a mutually acceptable solution."

Despite that, a senior BCCI official told the Times of India newspaper on Wednesday that the real reason for the rescheduling was his board's determination to avoid a repeat of their team's 2003 experience, when they were routed in New Zealand only weeks out from the World Cup in South Africa.

"The conditions in New Zealand are very different from West Indies," the unnamed official said.

"There is no point in touring there because any loss will only raise pressure on the team like the last time."

Only on Wednesday the International Cricket Council (ICC) warned India against making unilateral decisions about the cricket calendar after the BCCI said it would not take part in the Champions Trophy after this year.

The BCCI, which is hosting the one-day Champions Trophy from October 7 to November 5 this year, on Monday said India would not be free to take part in future years.

It argued that holding the trophy in October broke into India's season and so cut revenue.

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