Once you lose the first game, You can't afford to lose anymore : MS Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni said more than the Kiwi bowlers it was lack of application and soft dismissals on part of the Indian batsmen that resulted in shock but he has faith in his team to bounce back in the World Twenty20. Chasing 127, India collapsed to 79, slumping to their fifth defeat in as many games against New Zealand, last night. It was India's second-lowest T20 ever.First against Australia back in 2008, It was 74 runs. "I feel it was lack of application and soft dismissals rather than their bowlers. But they did bowl well," Dhoni. "If it doesn't go the way that we want to go then everybody has to pitch in, what's important is how to make the turn around and I think this team has done it time and again in the past," he said "We always knew that the pitch was slow I think the bowlers did well to restrict them as 140 was par score. The batting department didn't do well as we kept losing wickets every other over. We did not have any partnership. If you have a partnership then you can build on. I think it was the partnership which was important. "It's actually difficult to score runs on a spinning wicket than a seaming wicket which becomes flat later. It s a challenge to score runs on such turning wickets. But this is a good sporting wicket," Dhoni said. "You have to see the stats. In the initial days of cricket when I played, the ball was not turning enough even when (Sri Lanka's Muthiah) Muralitharan was bowling. Stats may say that a batsmen has scored a hundred but in the last few matches in India (in Tests). We have got difficult pitches where even a 40 was a good score," he said. He did not agree that considering conditions, India should have included Pawan Negi in place of Hardik Pandya. "If you see Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) did not bowl a single over. When we had overs of left-arm spin they had left-handers on crease, If Hardik is there then you have option of an extra seamer." Asked if it was a good wake up call, Dhoni said: "It will be good for everybody, not just us, but also the fans. If the margin of defeat was less it would have been better." When pointed out that the game against Pakistan now has turned into a do-or-die affair and the pressure on the team has increased Dhoni said after defeat in the opening group game, "every game is now must-win for them". "There are two more matches after that (game against Pakistan) and there is no match in India where there isn't pressure on us," he said.