It was a night when India were beaten at their own game. The Indian batsmen failed to counter New Zealand’s spin trio and succumbed to a 47-run defeat. India captain MS Dhoni hoped that the loss would prove to be a learning curve and going ahead would bring about the best from every individual in the team. Dhoni also believed that the loss wouldn’t dent their confidence for the games to come. “If it doesn’t go the way you want it to go; that is the time when everybody needs to pitch in,” Dhoni said.
“What I always tell the boys is the kind of cricket you are playing, what is the mistake that you have committed in the game rather than thinking that you have been bundled out for just 80 or 90 runs. What is important is how we turn around and how we come back strong. This team has done it plenty of times. The team has shown the character of coming back after a bad defeat. I don’t think I will have to work too hard on regrouping the boys.
“In a way this loss is good for the team that we will also realise how to bat under such situations. The wickets will be different everywhere and when we go to Kolkata, maybe the wicket there will also be different. Hopefully this loss will bring the best out of us.”
Barring Dhoni himself and Virat Kohli, the rest of the batsmen looked at bay. The top order that had been doing the bulk of the scoring of late failed to click, while the lower-order was tested under a pressure cooker situation. Dhoni believed lack of application and partnerships were the reasons for the loss.
“There were quite a few soft dismissals and there was no partnership at all. We all knew that the wicket was slightly on the slower side. It was the batting department that could have done better. We kept losing wickets at every alternate over. Once the top order gets out, it becomes more difficult for the batsmen to come in to score runs. It is important to get a partnership going at that stage so that it gives that calmness in the dressing room and the batsmen who are coming afterwards. It was to some extent a lack of application.”
While he applauded the bowlers for restricting New Zealand to a modest 126, Dhoni felt going forward, assessing the pitch and reading situations would be vital. “You have to assess. You have to adapt and how quickly you read the pitch will become important. It is a challenge to bat on a turning pitch. You can commit an error and get out very soon on a turning track. You have to be very careful and adapt while playing on such pitches. This day was more about adaptability than looking to hit big.”
With a loss in the series opener, India do have their backs against the wall as they meet Pakistan next. From here on, not just the victories, but even the margins of victories would hold importance, reckoned Dhoni. “It would have been better had the margin of defeat been less because I feel in one of the T20 World Cups we lost one match and didn’t qualify in the later stages of the tournament. It will be important for us to win the rest of the matches but the margin of wins will also be important. You can’t afford to lose any more games because one more loss and you will be out of the tournament.”
