Brendon McCullum's letter to Indian cricket fans before World Cup final

Brendon McCullum is hopeful Indian fans will back the Blackcaps in the World Cup final

Earlier this week, New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum had written a letter to bosses across New Zealand, asking them to let employees have an off day so that they could support the Black Caps during their World Cup semifinal against South Africa at Eden Park, Auckland. New Zealand eventually won a nerve-racking match against the Proteas by 4 wickets with 1 ball to spare.

Having qualified for the World Cup final, which will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against hosts Australia, McCullum is now hopeful that Indian cricket fans will be there to back his team on Sunday.

Indian fans are expected to fill the MCG tomorrow as a lot of them had bought tickets for the match in advance, hoping that the Men in Blue would make it to the final. But MS Dhoni’s men came up short against a strong Australian side in the second semifinal on Thursday.

The Indian and Australian cricket teams haven’t been the best of mates on the field over the last decade and McCullum is banking on the ancient proverb – The enemy of an enemy is a friend – to work in his team’s favour.

Earlier today, in the final press conference before the final, McCullum had said: “I reckon we might have the home crowd tomorrow. I think it’s probably no secret that most teams around the world would prefer New Zealand to win than Australia, so hopefully we get a good smattering of support tomorrow and hopefully the Indian guys will be rooting for us.”

McCullum's sponsors, PUMA, sent the following letter on his behalf: