New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has stressed on the need to improve in all departments in the next match while crediting India for their 6-wicket win in the five-match T20I series opener at Auckland on Friday (January 24).

After suffering massive defeat in own home conditions, Williamson said the entire squad played their roles really well against India but they need to improve a bit more to beat the world-class tourists in the upcoming matches of the T20I series.

Batting first, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, and Williamson cracked aggressive half-centuries to help New Zealand post 203/5 against India and the skipper feels they should have built some partnerships in Auckland.

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However, the skipper said it was tough to defend as the Auckland wicket was a drop-in surface with a bit of dew and Indians played brilliantly here, as KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer each smashed fifties to help the team to cross the line with 6 balls to spare, saying Indian batsmen have put his team under constant pressure on Friday.  

Williamson said in the post-match presentation ceremony, “There’s a lot of positives out there for us. We know coming to Eden Park it's hard to defend and there was a bit of dew and obviously India showed their class. We knew batting first we had to get a good total on the board. Being a second-used surface, it was a high scoring game."

He further added, "Credit to India for the way they played. But with the ball in hand, if we could get three or four early, we could have got ahead of the game. Taking pace off seemed to be working okay, but it was tough to execute because India put us under pressure constantly.”

As the second T20I will be played on Sunday (January 26) at Eden Park, Williamson said the Blackcaps need to find ways to keep in check India batting line-up.

He signed off by saying, “But we do need to find ways to pick up some wickets. It was nice to build some partnerships. Guys came in and played their roles really well. It's important we improve in all areas in the next game.”

(With India Today Inputs)