"I think the start is important for us. Over the years we have seen if we get a decent start, we have got the firepower to capitalise on that and specially with the 20 overs of power-play it gets really very difficult for the bowlers to contain us." said India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
"If we get a good start more often then not we will get a good score which our bowlers can defend," he said.
"The openers role is very important, but I think Raina’s knock was fabulous. He came in at a time when he had to decide whether to go after the bowling or not. He went by his instinct, whatever he saw, he played according to the merit of the ball. I think it was a brilliant innings," he added.
he said, "During the toss I have said it has happened to us in the past that in the Twenty20 games we tend to go out all guns blazing and at times we fall short of the target, but our 50 overs approach has been good. "We also committed mistakes but overall our approach has been good till now.
We made a few errors in the middle but overall I am quite happy with the performance." Dhoni said.
"He (Praveen) is one bowler who does very well in conditions where there is something for him. He can swing the ball both ways and is a street smart cricketer. He knows his limitations and that’s the best part," he said.
"Right from the start India outplayed us. We just couldn’t get right with the ball. I was pretty disappointed with the way we bowled, we are a lot better bowling unit than what we have displayed today. We were also a bit sloppy on the field and lacked execution," New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori said.
"Raina’s innings probably brought little bit of momentum back in the middle stages. He played exceptionally well and took the game away from us.
"Dhoni, Sehwag are quality players, if you give them a chance, they will grab it," Vettori said.
"No, we got our figures wrong. We were not looking forward to chasing 105 off 7. We put ourselves in the situation with the way we bowled." "I suppose losing a couple of wickets in the beginning also didn’t help us, because when you are chasing a big target, you need to get a good start," he added.