New Zealand suffered their first defeat in the ongoing World Cup as they went down against India in Dharamsala on Sunday (October 22).

Asked to bat first, the Kiwis posted 273/10 on the board in their allotted 50 overs. Daryl Mitchell was the top scorer with 130 while Rachin Ravindra played a vital knock of 75.

In reply, India overhauled the target with four wickets and two overs to spare. Despite a strong start from the Indian openers, the Black Caps kept taking wickets at regular intervals and reduced the hosts to 191/5 at one stage.

However, Virat Kohli held the one end firmly and played a stunning knock of 95 to put his team on the brink of victory. In the end, Ravindra Jadeja completed the formalities and stayed unbeaten on 39 to take India home.

After the game, Daryl Mitchell addressed a press conference, where he hailed New Zealand’s bowling effort despite being outdone by Kohli's class.

“He’s a world class player and he’ll go down as one of the greats of the game for a reason. A very good knock under pressure I thought and although he didn’t get 100, he got his team across the line,” Mitchell said in praise of Kohli.

He added: “But yeah, look for us as Kiwis, we’ll just keep throwing punches, we’ll keep trying different things and we’ll keep trying to take wickets and I’m just really proud of our bowling unit tonight. For us, we’re really proud of our efforts and we look forward to taking on the Aussies in just under a week’s time.”

New Zealand lost their openers early to slip to 19/2 before Daryl Mitchell stitched a 159-run partnership with Rachin Ravindra to bail his side out of trouble.

“It was awesome back with ‘Rach’, he’s obviously in rich form at the moment and yeah, we were just having some fun out there and taking in what it is to be part of an amazing World Cup,” said Mitchell.

“To play at grounds like this and at crowds like this, it’s pretty special for us Kiwis who live on the bottom of the earth.”

New Zealand were aiming at 300+ total at one stage but Shami and other Indian pacers bowled brilliantly in the last 10 overs.

“I thought the way India bowled was pretty special obviously,” said Mitchell. “Shami got the rewards but also (Jasprit) Bumrah, and (Mohammed) Siraj, the way they took wickets probably held us back a little bit.”

(Firstpost Inputs)