Cricket World Cup 2019: Writing off the Black Caps? Indian legend's NZ insult

Indian great Sachin Tendulkar has called it - New Zealand's World Cup ends tomorrow.

Tendulkar, who played 463 ODIs and won the 2011 tournament, congratulated former teammate and India wicketkeeper MS Dhoni a happy birthday yesterday. But in doing so he took a slight dig at the Black Caps.

"Wish you a happy birthday @msdhoni! Have a great year. All the very best for the next two games."

Wish you a happy birthday @msdhoni! Have a great year.
All the very best for the next two games 👍 pic.twitter.com/d8STlRh9e9

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 7, 2019

Black Caps coach Gary Stead was made aware one of cricket's all-time greats predicting his side's demise but wasn't concerned.

"Hopefully we have a 'birthday' coming up and he wishes one of our guys it too," Stead said yesterday.

The New Zealand TAB lists the Black Caps as $3.40 underdogs, after three straight defeats, while India are $1.30 favourites.

"I'm not spending a lot of time worrying about what other people are thinking, whether we should be here or not," Stead said.

"India are a quality team. There's no doubt they've got matchwinners right throughout their line-up. Hopefully you'll see what Kiwis are made of out there as well, that 'no die' attitude and I guess stand up when we need to."