Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar on Monday said the national team’s defeat to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup was one of those matches where “nothing works out even if you try”.

India have been pushed to the brink of elimination after Virat Kohli and his men suffered a seven-wicket loss to the Black Caps in Dubai on Sunday, their second successive defeat of the tournament.

Sachin said the Indian batters were forced to play big shots as they were not given easy singles by New Zealand and the India bowlers lacked penetration while defending a low total of 110.

“It was a difficult day for our team but these kind of days come sometimes, when even if you try, nothing works. I just hope in the coming days, our team will show something great in this tournament,” he said.

“I felt India was playing a catching-up game. The way New Zealand were dominating, it was difficult for our batters because they could not get those easy singles which forced them to play big shots. I don’t think there was that penetration in our bowling.”

He described New Zealand captain Kane Williamson’s tactics as top-notch and said he must have come with a lot of planning.

“From ball one, his field settings and bowling changes were top-notch. In the first six overs, we were 35 for 2. In that, 20 runs came from five overs and one over from Adam Milne yielded 15 runs. For me, the critical phase of the game was after six till the 10th over.

“There were 24 balls there, we scored 13 runs and lost one wicket. According to me, that was a crucial phase which we missed out on capitalising.

“But those easy singles were not available and that forced our batters to play big shots. Rohit was out while doing that, Virat was out like that,” said the 48-year-old cricketer.

Sachin also pointed out another successful tactic of New Zealand while bowling to Rishabh Pant, which he said was similar to the one employed during the 2019 (50-over) World Cup.

“Pant came and the fast bowlers came on immediately. When the spin attack came, immediately the end (of spin bowling) was changed. Again a smart move,” he explained.

“I remembered the 2019 World Cup. When Mitchell Santner came to bowl to Pant, he was bowling from the longer end so that when Pant attacked towards the mid-wicket, it would be towards the longest boundary of the ground.”