India v New Zealand, ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match, Lord's - Dhoni unperturbed by warm-up defeat

Ishant Sharma returned figures of 4 for 25 © Associated Press

India squandered a dominant position to lose their first warm-up game against New Zealand at Lord's, but their captain MS Dhoni chose to play down the defeat and looked at the positives instead.

"Obviously we had some targets," he was quoted as saying by PTI. "A couple of batsmen got really good starts. Of course during the game we lost wickets at crucial times but we wanted to try a few things, specially in bowling and all of that worked for us."

Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina had put India in sight of a comfortable win, taking them to 126 for 3 in the 15th over in pursuit of 170. But Raina's miscue off Jacob Oram triggered a slide as New Zealand's bowlers, particularly captain Daniel Vettori, who finished with 3 for 24, stymied the chase to help their team win by nine runs.

Though Dhoni was upset with the slip-up, he said there were alternatives in place to rectify what went wrong. "Quite disappointed with the defeat but we have back-up plans and so I'm not really worried," he said. "Besides, we missed quite a few key players."

Yuvraj Singh was down with food poisoning and Virender Sehwag sat out due to a shoulder injury. However, both are expected to be fit for India's next warm-up tie against Pakistan on June 3. "A couple of guys had food poisoning but I'm sure everyone will be fine before our next warm-up game."

Dhoni was particularly encouraged by the performance of Ishant Sharma, India's stand-out performer with the ball, taking 4 for 25. Ishant was Kolkata Knight Riders' highest wicket-taker in the IPL, finishing with 11 from as many games but his record in international Twenty20's has been indifferent - he averages 51 with just two wickets in four games. "I think it would give him great deal of confidence," Dhoni said of his four-wicket haul. "He is a bowler who should be bowling at the start and also in the end. In between he came and got us those crucial wickets."

Daniel Vettori, meanwhile, attributed the win to a team effort. "I think we managed our innings well," he said. "It was a very good performance. Rohit (Sharma) and (Suresh) Raina were destructive and to come back from there, I must say I'm reasonably happy."