Three quick wickets hurt us badly: MS Dhoni

Napier: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that his dismissal along with centurion Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja tilted the match in favour of New Zealanders in the first ODI which they lost by 24 runs.

"We were in the game, right till the end, but the wickets of Kohli, Jadeja and myself hurt us. It was important that one of us carried on till the end. We could have targetted the runs at the end but we ran out of overs," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The skipper said that some of the batsmen played well but more important was to finish off the game.

"We had good time to prepare ourselves. I think a few of the batsmen played well today, but it is important that if you get a decent start, you push on to get a big score. It is a little easier in India to do it, but here you have to work for it as new ball is difficult to handle. If one gets out its important that it should be a good ball," the skipper said.

Dhoni however had words of praise for his bowlers who kept the New Zealand score under 300 despite going for a few runs initially.

"I think overall, it was a good decision to bat first. It had to be backed by good bowling. We didn't do well in first three or four overs, but then we came back well. It was important for the spinners to bowl with control. I was happy with the spinners as they were bowling at right width not mixing up too much. No point in trying to turn the deliveries," skipper commented.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum thought that 292 was a par-score against a decent Indian attack. "I thought we had a par score and the way India bowled they restricted us to just below 300. Virat's innings was world-class and showed why he is one of the best in the world," McCullum said.

"Mitch (McClenaghan) did the job for us with the ball, and showed how vital he is to our side. It was good to see some partnerships throughout the batting. Ross and Kane's stand in particular was important for our side. I was pretty pleased with how Corey (Anderson) went as well. So pleased with the batters."

McCullum said that he was indeed worried when Dhoni and Kohli were batting.

"It's a captain's nightmare when you have those two guys there, but the message was simple, try to find a way to get a wicket. I thought Mitch was outstanding, and I thought Milne was really good tonight, despite the injury. Our ground fielding was pretty good, and that is what we pride ourselves in."

Man of the match Corey Anderson was happy that he got a nice platform set by Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.

"Yeah it's nice to set it up at the end there after Ross and Kane built it for us. It was tough at the death but I guess that is something we have to look at next game. We started off well with the ball, and then through the Powerplay stage it got a bit messy, but you expect it in that stage. I am happy to get wickets but there will be days when I would go for runs".

It's a huge victory for New Zealand: McCullum

It's a huge victory for New Zealand: McCullum

Napier: New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum today termed his team's victory in the first ODI against world No. 1 team, India as "huge" and said the fact that the Kiwis came out on top despite Virat Kohli's century is a good sign.

"The result today is huge for us. To start the series against what is a very good Indian team and then Virat Kohli performed as well as what he did. Yet we come out on top, it is a really good sign. I am delighted for the guys, delighted with today's performance," said McCullum at the post match press conference after his team's 24-run win over India.

Chasing 293, India lost the first ODI of the five-match series with Kohli's 111-ball 123 going down the drain. McCullum said there were still four more matches to go and it would not be easy for the hosts.

"There are still four tough games to go and India will get better as the tour goes on. But there is a little bit we can improve on as well," he said.

The captain applauded his batsmen for handling the spinners well and the bowlers for taking three quick wickets of Kohli, M S Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to turn the match in Kiwis' favour.

"We played the spinners well. It doesn't turn a great deal here in Napier, so it could obviously be a different challenge in Hamilton. But the way we played the spinners, and also the two guys that we had at the crease against spinners are two of our best batters against spin bowling, their ability to put together a partnership through rotating the strike and picking up the odd boundary was key in allowing us that platform that we wanted," McCullum said, speaking about the 121-run third-wicket partnership between Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.

"For the majority of the game, we were excellent. It was a good fight back. But when Kohli and Dhoni were putting together that partnership, we were obviously starting to slip. But this is a funny game. You are only one or two wickets away from being right back in the driver's seat. Thankfully, we were able to get those wickets and put together what was a pretty good all-round performance," he added.

The star of the match for New Zealand was Corey Anderson, who first scored 68 off 40 balls, hitting three fours and four sixes to help push their score in the death overs, and then dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane, returning 2-51 from 10 overs, completing an all-round match-winning performance.

"He is not always going to keep scoring like that but as long as he is always trying to do that, that's fine. As long as he's doing the right thing in terms of attacking and trying to take wickets for us, then we know what we are going to get. He did it again today and he is certainly proving to be pretty good," said McCullum, praising this new-found talent.

But the wrecker-in-chief of the Indian innings was Mitchell McClenaghan, who took 4 for 68 in 10 overs and McCullum was all praise for him.

"He keeps producing results. He bounced out four batsmen today, which is great. That's the plan we wanted to implement and Mitch was a big part of that as well. He has the handy knack of picking up wickets at key times," said the Black Caps' skipper.

The plan worked well for New Zealand today as they unleashed a four-pronged pace attack but a side strain to their young fast bowler Adam Milne soured the mood a bit.

"When you bowl at that pace, there is always a risk that you are going to get injured. I feel for him at the moment, he is obviously very disappointed that he has come down with the injury. But the overs that he gave us were hostile and he performed the role that we asked of him. We will obviously have to assess him tomorrow but it is not great at the moment," McCullum revealed.

Need more consistency from batsmen: Dhoni

Need more consistency from batsmen: Dhoni

Napier: India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said his team's failure to build partnerships after losing early wicket was the cause of the defeat against New Zealand in the first one-dayer and asked his batsmen to step-up with more consistent performances.

Chasing 293 for victory, India lost the first ODI of the five-match series here by 24 runs despite Virat Kohli (123) scoring a superb century. "We lost three quick wickets of Virat, Ravindra Jadeja and mine, and that was the turning point of the match," said Dhoni at the post match press conference.

"That was when we needed a partnership and we need to learn out of this. It is important to get partnerships going. The number four and five batsmen haven't been consistent for us. Even if we don't get hundreds or fifties from them, those slots are crucial when the opposition scores 280-300 runs. After we lose early wickets, we need partnerships to rebuild and cannot play catch up, thus putting pressure on the lower middle order," he added.

Dhoni, however, said the fact that the team got close to the target showed that the batsmen have a lot of firepower. "At the same time, we can say that not many batsmen scored runs but we were still able to get close to 290 runs. It means that we have got plenty of firepower. We just need to apply ourselves better and it will see us through," he said.

Four out of the top six batsmen -- Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Dhoni himself -- fell to short balls or bouncers, perhaps underlining a growing weakness in the Indian batting line-up. But the wicketkeeper-batsman was quick to negate the theory.

"One of the options is, not to play the shot but our strength has been to play shots," he opined. "At times we will get caught because it's a difficult shot to play. But we need to play it and master this shot because overseas you cannot allow the bowlers to dominate and cannot leave all of them.

"But we can always pick and choose when to play and when not to play this shot," Dhoni explained. The Indian captain reserved special praise for his deputy Kohli whose valiant effort was denied by the Kiwis in the end.

"Virat is a free flowing batsman and he backs himself to play big shots. He knows what works for him and he picks and chooses his shots. If he gets a good start then he makes sure that he converts that start, getting to fifty and making a big score after that. More often than not he crosses the hundred-run mark, which is very important because you need one batsman to bat though the innings and the rest can rotate around him.

"Virat has done that really well so far, and hopefully he will carry it further," he said.

Dhoni also applauded his bowlers' efforts to restrict the Black Caps to 292 for seven in 50 overs.

"We didn't start very well...in the first three or four overs we didn't really bowl well. But after that we came back nicely. In the middle overs, the spinners also bowled well. We used a few overs off part-timers as Virat bowled and he also contributed. I think death bowling was really good. When one of their set-batsman was batting, we were able to contain them. So that's a big positive out of this game," he said.

Question was raised about the spinners who were able to take just one wicket from 19 overs with Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin together giving away 113 runs while India searched for wickets in the middle overs.

"Their roles change when they play outside the subcontinent. The home teams will never make pitches that turn and they will have to keep experimenting with pace and length. I think they bowled pretty well. They didn't get wickets but they built some pressure in the middle overs, which is also very important," defended Dhoni.

"Also, whenever we have played with four fast bowlers, the captain gets banned and we lose. So it doesn't seem like an option for us," he concluded.