The local organisers are making an effort to get the out of rhythm Indians into the groove. The Blues were welcomed at the Wellington airport with bhangra beats on Thursday. With the lone Indian drumming up support, pace bowlers Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel broke into impromptu jigs. It was lapped up by another Punjab player. "Music is always good to hear, especially since it was Punjabi," Yuvraj Singh said.

Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik have very little chance of turning up for India in the only remaining T20 game on Friday — the former is not part of the squad while the latter has a tough ask of either replacing the captain or one from the reputed line-up to play purely as a batsman. However, the two will turn out for teams from New Zealand and Australia, in a Wellington International Masters game, the curtain-raiser to the T20 between India and New Zealand at Westpac Stadium.

Tendulkar and Karthik have been drafted into the New Zealand and Australian Masters teams after discussions with the New Zealand Cricket Players Association. Tendulkar will turn out for the Samsung NZCPA Masters, while Karthik will wear the ACA Masters colours

— K. Moses