BLACKCAPS captain Daniel Vettori was full of praise for Yusuf Pathan’s match winning performance but also made mention of the improved batting effort by his team.
“James Franklin’s 98 off 70 balls is an amazing effort and he gave us a total should have been defendable,” said Vettori
“We started off pretty well but Yusuf Pathan really took the game away from us. His ability to hit the ball out of the ground made it incredibly difficult for us to stop his momentum and he was too good for us in the end.
“It was a very impressive innings. He allowed himself to get in and wasn’t too aggressive at the start and once he started to feel comfortable he played some shots. He basically saved himself up for the third powerplay and was able to really get going – it was hard to claw him back.
“I think we were well and truly in the game until the powerplay and unfortunately, that’s where we lost it.
Vettori said there is no lack of motivation for the final match that against India in Chennai on Friday and remains upbeat despite their recent run of loses.
“We will look at it as we do every game – to win it. I know that’s hard to say after losing so many games in a row but we still think we can do it.
“The batsmen showed how good they can be. If we get that performance again we hope our bowlers can do better.
