Nagpur: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys suffered a major jolt on a spin-friendly pitch against New Zealand in the opening encounter of ICC World Twenty20.
Much to the dismay of the local crowd, Men in Blue failed to chase a paltry total of 126 runs.
Dhoni, who had earlied mocked a pitch in Bangladesh in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2016 by calling it 'English', would be shattered with the way his troops performed on a track which was made for his bowlers.
Kane Williamson, along with the Kiwi think tank, read the pitch brilliantly, post which they dropped their two premier pacers – Trent Boult and Tim Southee from the attack, and instead banked on three spinners - Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.
The trio wreaked havoc by spinning a web around India's star-studded batting line-up, and shared nine wickets between themselves.
How pathetic was India's batting could be acertained from the fact that five of the top seven batsmen couldn't reach double digits.
Virat Kohli (23) and Dhoni (30) were the only two batsmen who looked to put some fight, but even they didn't meet the standards they have set over the years.
It's high time that Dhoni realises that a quality side needs to win matches across the world, irrespective of the conditions and the pitch's behaviour.
India will now take on arch-rivals Pakistan in an eagerly awaited encounter at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 19.
