‘Kiwis have fire in the belly’

The teams have arrived in Delhi for the second of five ODIs on Thursday. The Black Caps know they are a better white ball outfit than the one that lost with 101 balls to spare in Dharamsala as their batsmen – Tom Latham apart – hardly fired a shot and the bowlers struggled for inroads with Indian skipper Virat Kohli dominant. 

“We talked about trying to put that behind us and just focus on what’s ahead. It’s about putting as much effort and energy into these last four games and trying to finish this tour well,” Bracewell, who took 1-44 off eight overs in the opening game, said. 

He felt the string of losses was motivating the team rather than demoralising them. “After a few losses your determination does get a bit stronger and you want to get one win back just to get that feeling back. But it’s important also not to search for it too much. We just have to stick to what we do best and focus on our own goals and we’ll do well,” Bracewell said. Bracewell backed the team to respond. 

“It was a pretty disappointing start to the series going down by six wickets but the beauty of it is we have got four more games to get better and in this next game be more competitive than the last. There is very strong belief still. We have got a good group of guys at the moment and a good team structure. 

“We will take some learnings out of it. When you get beaten it’s easy to look at what you did bad and what happened. We need to improve as quick as possible.”

India have plenty of motivation to continue their winning ways. Fourthranked India will have to win the ODI series against New Zealand by at least a 4-1 margin to move up a position in the ICC team rankings. 

India (110 points) presently trail New Zealand (113 points) by three points and will need an emphatic series win to claim the third position.