New Zealand's stand-in captain Tom Latham was elated as his team showed greater composure and handled the pressure far better on Wednesday (February 5) to finish with an impressive four-wicket victory against India in the first ODI in Hamilton. 

The Black Caps needed to bounce back strongly after going down heavily in the T20I series and so they did, successfully chasing the massive 348-run target with veteran Ross Taylor scoring a magnificent hundred and Latham himself making a solid half-century.

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"A great performance from the guys, it was nice to keep our composure at the end and get across the line," Latham said at the post-game presentation ceremony. 

"For us, it was about building partnerships. The total was a little more than what we would have liked to chase. But we managed to get off to a good start and keep wickets in hand."

Latham and Taylor put on a wonderful stand of 138 runs for the fourth wicket; this, after openers Henry Nicholls and Martin Guptill gave the team a solid foundation.

Going into the second ODI in Auckland on Saturday (February 8), while the bowling remains a worry for the Black Caps, the way their batting line-up clicked to take on the might of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Kuldeep Yadav, it must've really boosted the team's confidence. 

"We saw how hard it was to defend with the left-right combination. It’s nice to make winning contributions," Latham said. 

"The way Ross played was fantastic. We weren’t quite where we wanted to be with the ball. So we got to improve and hopefully, we will play the perfect game at Eden Park."

(Inputs from IANS)