Not Kiwi bowlers but our batsmen responsible for defeat: Dhoni

Routed by New Zealand on a turning track, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said more than the Kiwi bowlers it was lack of application on part of Indian batsmen that resulted in shock defeat but reposed faith in his team to bounce back in the World Twenty20.

Chasing a modest 127, India collapsed to 79, slumping to their fifth defeat in as many games against New Zealand, last night. It was their second-lowest T20 total ever.

“I feel it was lack of application and soft dismissals rather than their bowlers. But they did bowl well,” Dhoni said at the post-match media conference.

Dhoni sounded confident of putting behind the defeat and come back strong when they play arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday in Kolklata.

“If it doesn’t go the way that we want to go then everybody has to pitch in, what’s important is how to make the turn around and I think this team has done it time and again in the past,” he said

Dhoni was pleased with the perform ace of his bowlers who restricted New Zealand to a gettable total but argued that scoring runs on a turning track is a difficult task.

“We always knew that the pitch was slow I think the bowlers did well to restrict them as 140 was par score. The batting department didn’t do well as we kept losing wickets every other over. We did not have any partnership. If you have a partnership then you can build on. I think it was the partnership which was important.

“It’s actually difficult to score runs on a spinning wicket than a seaming wicket which becomes flat later. It's a challenge to score runs on such turning wickets. But this is a good sporting wicket,” Dhoni said.