Williamson upbeat despite Kanpur loss India New Zealand

Omnisports

September 25, 2016 11:23 PM

New Zealand have plenty to build on in the second Test with India despite defeat in Kanpur on Monday, says Kane Williamson.

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Kane Williamson was able to find positives from New Zealand's performance despite losing the opening Test against India by 197 runs.

Set 434 for victory, the Black Caps' steep task was made harder on Sunday as they fell to 93-4 heading into the final day after Ravichandran Ashwin's late blitz.

Ashwin was once again their tormentor in chief on day five with the final three wickets to complete a 10-wicket haul in the match.

While disappointed to fall behind in the three-match series, Williamson was still pleased with some aspects of their performance - particularly the late fight shown by Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner to make India wait until after lunch on Monday for victory.

"There were a lot of positives throughout the match, hopefully a few lessons as well," said the New Zealand skipper.

"India outplayed us though and if we look back there was a two-session period where the game slipped away from us.

"It would have been nice to get closer to the first innings total, and to start off restricting India to 300 on a good batting wicket was good work.

"[Ronchi and Santner] were both fantastic, particularly today with the ball spinning sharply. The way Santner applied himself with bat and ball and the way Ronchi played coming back into the team was fantastic."

The Black Caps will hope to level the series at the second Test in Kolkata which begins on Friday.

Omnisports

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