Mitchell Santner, left-arm spin all-rounder for New Zealand, believes their "nothing to lose" mentality is what propelled him and Michael Bracewell to give India a scare in the first ODI series opener in Hyderabad.
New Zealand were left chasing 350 after opener Shubman Gill smashed 208 off 149 balls, including 19 fours and nine sixes, to become the men's ODI cricket's youngest double-centurion.
The visitors were in trouble at 131/6, and from there, Santner and Bracewell shone with the bat, putting on a massive 162-run seventh-wicket stand off just 102 balls. Both were eventually out at the tail end of the chase, as New Zealand were all out for 337, falling 12 runs short of the target and falling 1-0 behind in the three-match series.
"It (New Zealand's mentality) was that we had nothing to lose here. Just played some shots, kept my head straight, and then yeah, Beasty (Bracewell) got a few away, and I was happy enough to knock it around, give him the strike, and watch him down the other end "Santner stated on the SENZ Breakfast show.
Santner made 57 off 45 balls, while Bracewell made 140 off 78 balls, hitting 12 fours and ten sixes. "But as we got closer, we realised that these guys are going to miss them even more now that they're under pressure."
"I mean, if I was there at the end with Beast, it might have been a little closer, but yeah, he just kept going and hitting it over the rope, which was cool to see," he added.
New Zealand entered the ODI series against India after winning the 50-over series in Pakistan earlier this month 2-1. The transition to different conditions and a larger atmosphere, according to Santner, was difficult for his New Zealand teammates.
"It was obviously a departure. I kind of wish we had those kinds of low, slow wickets in Pakistan, but it was pretty flat and had good pace and bounce."
"Obviously, it was pretty loud in the middle of it with 50,000 people on top of you, but yeah, it's always enjoyable playing here in front of this many people."
"They just love it; it was incredibly loud, and you kind of forget how loud it is when you come back. You have to keep your eyes on the skip because you can't hear anything else."
New Zealand will now look to level the series against India in the second One-Day International (ODI) on Saturday in Raipur.