We let the game drift in powerplays, says Daryl Mitchell

New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell said the Black Caps lost the game in the Powerplays as they went down by sevenwickets to South Africa in their T20 World Cup clash here, their first defeat of the tournament. “I think, probably in both Powerplays we let the game slip,” Mitchell said after the loss Saturday night. “With the bat, we lost a few too many wickets early and held ourselves back through that middle phase.

And then with the ball, we’ve got to put our hands up and say we weren’t as good as we could be.” New Zealand managed 175 for 7 after rebuilding from early setbacks but Mitchell admitted they were targeting a bigger total on a surface that looked conducive for strokeplay. “We rebuilt and put ourselves in a position to try and capitalise late in the innings, but we couldn’t quite get to that 200 total that we wanted. We always want more runs,” he said. South Africa chased down the target comfortably, riding on a strong start in the Powerplay, something Mitchell conceded made the difference.

“When two guys are coming pretty hard at you, that’s the nature of T20 cricket. Someone’s going to win, someone’s going to lose. Unfortunately we’re on the wrong side tonight,” he added. Mitchell credited the South African bowling attack for executing their plans better, especially with variations. “I thought their bowlers, especially Marco (Jansen), bowled really well. You could tell they’d played on the surface before, their plans and how they operated were clear. Take my hat off to them,” he said. Regarding a crucial passage late in New Zealand’s innings when boundaries dried up, Mitchell described it as part of the game’s natural swings.

“Sometimes they (shots) go for six, sometimes they get caught on the rope. We built a platform after losing early wickets and got into a position where we wanted to go again and put them under pressure. But little moments didn’t go our way and we didn’t get the total we were after,” he said. Despite the setback, Mitchell said the team would quickly shift focus to the next fixture. “A strength of this Black Caps group is being where our feet are. We’ll take the learnings from this game and look forward to the next one.

We still represent our country and want to win games,” he said. Mitchell also praised the atmosphere at the Narendra Modi Stadium, saying New Zealand have enjoyed strong support during their stay in India. “It’s a beautiful ground and a special place to play. We’ve been here nearly six weeks and we love the support the Indian people give us. We feel like we’re their second favourite team apart from India,” he added.

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