IND vs NZ: "When I walked out, I was optimistic we could win the game" - Michael Bracewell reflects on his innings against India in 1st ODI

New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell stated that he was highly optimistic about the tourists winning the first ODI against India in Hyderabad upon arriving at the crease.

The left-handed batter acknowledged that the pressure is relatively less when plenty of wickets fall at the other end.

Chasing 350 for victory, Bracewell almost pulled off a miraculous win after New Zealand slumped to 131-6 in the 29th over. The 31-year-old hit 140 off 78 deliveries, laced with 12 fours and ten sixes but perished in the 50th over as the home side escaped with a 12-run win.

Bracewell revealed that he felt relaxed but aimed to rebuild the innings and was positive about chasing down the target. The southpaw stated that it was a 'bummer' that New Zealand fell short despite the 162-run partnership with Mitchell Santner.

As quoted by Stuff.co.nz, he said:

"It takes the pressure off a little when you’re losing so many wickets. You’ve just got to try and rebuild and you can’t get too far ahead of yourself. When I walked out, I was optimistic we could win the game. We were just trying to give ourselves a chance.

"We managed to put a wee partnership on at the end but unfortunately it wasn't quite enough – we fell 12 runs short, which is a bit of a bummer really."

Bracwell's 57-ball hundred was also the joint-fastest ODI century in India and the third-fastest by a Kiwi in the format. The talented batter also equalled MS Dhoni's record of being the only batter to score more than one ton batting at No.7 or lower in ODIs.

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"We weren't really talking too much about trying to win the game" - Michael Bracewell

Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner. (Image Credits: Twitter)

Bracewell further claimed that the conversation with Santner was to take the game as deep as possible and that they took cues from Shubman Gill's batting. He added:

"We weren't really talking too much about trying to win the game, it was just about trying to to take it deep and get it close. With the reasonably small boundaries here, we knew we could take the game deep and give ourselves a chance of having a bit of a dip at the end.

"We were able to do that and we probably just left ourselves a little bit too many to try and have a good crack. We watched Shubman bat for 50 overs and obviously saw that it was a pretty good wicket to bat on if you were able to get yourself in."

Gill's innings of 208 off 149 deliveries earned him the Player of the Match award, trumping the visiting batter's knock.