Batting let us down, laments Dhoni

"We could have applied ourselves a little more," said Dhoni. © Getty

Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed the poor batting performance by the side following the 47-run defeat against New Zealand in the opening clash of the ICC World Twenty20 2016 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Nagpur on Tuesday (March 15).

Having restricted New Zealand to 126 for 7 in 20 overs, India were skittled out for 79 runs - their second lowest in T20 Internationals. While he felt that the bowlers did a good job in restricting the visitors, the batsmen erred in shot selection. On a track that offered turn, India lost nine wickets to New Zealand's spin trio of Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.

"I think it was a low scoring wicket," Dhoni said at the post match presentation. "I thought we restricted them to a good total, but the batting let us down. The shot selection kept putting pressure on the batsmen coming in.

"They (New Zealand) bowled well, exploited the conditions, but we lacked adaptability, we could have applied ourselves a little more. The batting let us down."

Meanwhile Kane Williamson, New Zealand skipper, was pleased with his team's performance. Entering the contest, he came without his pace spearheads - Tim Southee and Trent boult, who have enjoyed success in sub continent.

However, he had asserted that New Zealand will play smart cricket and according to the conditions on offer. The move to play three spinners worked for them as they troubled the Indian batsmen. "I am very pleased. It was a tough surface." he said. "With the bat whatever score was going to be tough, we would have liked to have a few more. We wanted to be aggressive at the start, the format dictates that, we may reflect on that though and try and do it better.

"The message to the bowling attack was to be patient and apply pressure and we did that well."

It was only the second time in Twenty20 Internationals that nine wickets feel to spinners in a single innings.