India captain Virat Kohli said his opposite number Tom Latham’s 48-ball 69 took the momentum away from his side in the high-scoring first One-day International against New Zealand in Hamilton on Wednesday.
New Zealand recorded their highest-ever run chase, 348, riding on Ross Taylor’s 84-ball-109 not out and Latham’s attacking half-century.
“It was an outstanding performance by New Zealand,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony. He added: “We thought 348 was good enough. Ross is the experienced batsman they have but Tom’s innings was the one that took away the momentum. Credit to Taylor and Tom.”
India were below-par on the field with Kuldeep Yadav dropping a skier and bowlers doing a less than commendable job.
“Look, we didn’t grab onto one chance, but we were decent. It’s something we need to keep on improving. We can’t focus too much on negative things. Today, the opposition played better than us and they deserved to win,” Kohli said.
For India, Shreyas Iyer stood out with his first ODI hundred. The Indian captain also seemed satisfied with the performance by debutants Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw, who gave the team a 50-plus start even though they failed to get big scores.
“I think the debutants gave us a good start and hopefully they continue. [Shreyas] Iyer was outstanding getting his first ODI hundred under pressure. KL [Rahul] was good once again. These are positives for us.”