Ish Sodhi said he did not expect New Zealand to beat India in a completely one-sided affair at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. Trent Boult and Sodhi starred with the ball before Daryl Mitchell smashed 49 off 35 to help New Zealand defeat India by eight wickets in a Super 12 game of the ongoing T20 World Cup. “Absolutely not. You go into matches like this with a team full of world-class performers like India have, and they’ve got a great record against us over the past few years.

“Very tough opposition in any conditions anywhere in the world,” Sodhi said during a virtual post-match press conference.

“So it’s definitely a special win. After a tough loss against Pakistan, I think the boys regrouped really well. And to be able to pull off a win like that, it’s definitely something you don’t take lightly,” he added.

New Zealand produced a stunning bowling display as the Indian batsmen struggled on the crease.

Jasprit Bumrah said India wanted to score extra runs which made the side go on the field with an attacking mindset.

“I think the boys held their composure really well. I suppose it was quite hard not to think it was a big game in this competition for us over the past few days. But I guess it kind of was, but the boys just held their composure really well. The toss went our way. And we’ve got a tremendous amount of experience in this group,” said Sodhi.

“Trent Boult and Tim Southee, with a new ball. They’ve been doing a great job for us for a number of years, and for them to set the tone they did today and allowed all bowlers to kind of back that up. And in the innings that we played, to score those runs I think was a great job,” he added.

Talking about the importance of toss, Sodhi said: “I don’t know if it was much of a psychological advantage or anything like that. But I think the stats did say something this morning, like 14 games out of the last 18 had been won chasing here.”

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“I guess from a technical perspective, I would assume both teams would have wanted to bowl and that’s just the way that cricket goes. The coin can only go one way. And thankfully it went our way today,” he added.

New Zealand will now square off against Scotland at the Dubai International Stadium on November 3.