New Delhi: Despite the resilience shown by the lower order batsmen after their top order failed to impress with the bat, India lost to New Zealand in a closely-contested match by six runs in the second ODI played at Feroezeshah Kotla in New Delhi on Thursday.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed the loss to the failure of the batsmen at the top and said that they kept losing wickets to ordinary balls that helped the Kiwis win the match. “I feel this was one game where we lost wickets against the run of play. It was not that the deliveries were good, we just kept losing wickets. Until the end we had the run rate under control. When you're chasing, you need to play 50 overs and at one stage it didn't look like we would,” said Dhoni, giving credit to the bowlers.

“I felt the NZ bowlers bowled really well. But we just kept losing wickets. The ball was not coming out to the bat. I think we bowled really well. After the new ball it was key to get reverse swing and put pressure on the batsman. Mishy (Amit Mishra) bowled well and got crucial wickets.”

Meanwhile, Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson, who was also the Man-of-the-Match, said, “The wicket wasn't easy to increase the scoring rate. At the halfway stage we were a few off where we wanted to be. A lot of credit to the way we bowled. To create pressure on that surface was key and Trent Boult was outstanding. The bowling was huge for us. We were below par but we did have enough runs to create a squeeze. Dealing the with dew is never easy. The dew didn't help the spinners and they did a great job. There wasn't much turn but they did great for us. Seam bowling was easier to face on that surface. It was a good game of cricket. Credit to India. For the way they fought.”