India will reflect on Sunday's narrow 10-run loss, and regret frittering away a wonderful chance of taking a giant step towards the semifinals.
New Zealand will feel they got out of jail. The Kiwis will also take heart from the fact that even in the face of a brutal assault from Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, they kept their wits about them, and forced their way in once the door opened by a tiny fraction.
On an exceptionally good batting track at the Wanderers, India paid the penalty for not cashing in on periods of dominance. They began the contest strongly, but New Zealand finished it much the stronger outfit. That was the difference between two points and none in the World Twenty20 Cup Super Eight tie at the Wanderers on Sunday.

Devastating results
India lost the plot during two blocks of five overs -- one in each innings -- with devastating results. New Zealand had been pushed into a tight corner after being sent in, kept down to 112 for five in 15 overs, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni persisted with Yuvraj Singh for one over too many. The left-arm spinner's third over yielded 25, the momentum had emphatically been snatched away by Craig McMillan and Jacob Oram, and India leaked 53 more off the next four as the Kiwis amassed 190 all out.
It was a total no more than par for the course on a surface as good as this one. Through their brazen onslaught, Gambhir and Sehwag were headed towards making it look positively miniscule as the first five overs yielded a breathtaking 67. Once Sehwag fell in the sixth, India made laborious progress until over number ten, the second set of five overs producing just 29 runs for the loss of two wickets. Game over, effectively, India eventually finishing on 180 for nine.

Maximum damage
It was skipper Daniel Vettori that did the maximum damage. Even as his battering ram Shane Bond was taking a rare pounding alongside new-ball partner Mark Gillespie, the left-arm spinner bowled with great purpose and guile, tying the Indians up in knots and picking up the man of the match award for outstanding figures of four for 20.
Vettori didn't come on to bowl until the seventh over -- when the field restrictions were no longer in place -- and began his destruction act by snaffling Robin Uthappa for a duck, just four deliveries after Sehwag had tonked Oram straight to mid-wicket. India suddenly reined their aggression in, Gambhir and Dhoni embracing circumspection as they concentrated on keeping wickets in hand. The ploy might have worked had they consolidated enough and set the base for the lower middle-order; the loss of wickets at regular intervals meant not only did the run rate stagnate but the power-hitters were disappearing rapidly. It needed the outside edge of S Sreesanth to finally push India to 180, and this after Gambhir and Sehwag had added 76 in just 35 deliveries!
Brendon McCullum had, in the morning, got New Zealand off to a frenetic start with a succession of extraordinary strokes against Rudra Pratap Singh and Sreesanth, totally dominating a 58-run (42b) stand with Peter Fulton. India wended their way back in the middle overs as Harbhajan Singh feasted on the extra bounce, and Ajit Agarkar showed rare accuracy. With Yuvraj snaffling Ross Taylor and conjuring a slice of magic in the field to run Scott Syris out with a direct hit from mid-wicket, New Zealand were up against it when Dhoni made his first huge mistake, keeping the part-time left-arm spinner on for one over too many.
Oram set the tone with two huge sixes, McMillan came up with the third, and the initiative had suddenly been wrested. From then on, Sreesanth conceded 19 in his third over and Agarkar 21 in his fourth as the feisty McMillan and the massive Oram realised 73 (33b) to knock the stuffing out of India. RP Singh's last over threw up four wickets -- inclusive of three runs outs -- but much before that, the damage had been done.
Even so, India should still have knotted it up after the Gambhir-Sehwag show, but the middle-order allowed itself to be trapped in Vettori's web of deceit. The road to the semis looks a long one now, with England and South Africa to conquer in Durban on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

SCORE BOARD
NEW ZEALAND
Vincent c K’thick b RP Singh 3
(6b)
Mclum c Gambhir b H’hajan 45
(31b, 9x4)
Fulton lbw Harbhajan 21
(23b, 1x4, 1x6)
Taylor lbw Yuvraj 11
(9b, 1x6)
Styris (run out) 2
(4b)
McMillan (run out) 44
(23nb, 1x4, 4x6)
Oram c Singh b Sreesanth 35
(15b, 2x4, 3x6)
Vettori b RP Singh 15
(5b, 3x4)
Bond (run out) 4
(2b, 1x4)
Gillespie (not out) 0
(1b)
Patel (run out) 0
(1b)
Extras (LB-6, W-4) 10
Total (all out, 20 overs) 190
Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Vincent), 2-69 (Fulton), 3-86 (McCullum), 4-89 (Taylor), 5-91 (Styris), 6-164 (Oram), 7-185 (Vettori), 8-189 (Bond), 9-190 (McMillan).
Bowling: Sreesanth 3-0-37-1, RP Singh 4-0-29-2 (w-2), Agarkar 4-0-40-0, I Pathan 2-0-16-0 (w-1), Harbhajan 4-0-24-2 (w-1), Yuvraj 3-0-38-1.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 36/1; 10: 77/2; 15: 112/5; end of innings: 190 all out in 20 overs.
Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 48/1.

INDIA
Gambhir c McCullum b Vettori 51
(33b, 5x4, 2x6)
Sehwag c Styris b Oram 40
(17b, 6x4, 1x6)
Uthappa c & b Vettori 0
(2b)
Dhoni (run out) 24
(20b, 2x4)
Yuvraj c Taylor b Patel 5
(7b)
Kaarthick c Bond b Vettori 17
(12b, 3x4)
I Pathan b Vettori 11
(10b, 2x4)
Agarkar (run out) 1
(2b)
Harbhajan c Vettori b Bond 7
(6b, 1x4)
Sreesanth (not out) 19
(10b, 4x4)
RP Singh (not out) 1
(1b)
Extras (LB-2, W-2) 4
Total (for 9 wkts, 20 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Sehwag), 2-77 (Uthappa), 3-104 (Gambhir), 4-116 (Yuvraj), 5-128 (Dhoni), 6-146 (I Pathan), 7-151 (Kaarthick), 8-152 (Agarkar), 9-163 (Harbhajan).
Bowling: Bond 4-0-39-1, Gillespie 4-0-42-0 (w-2), Patel 3-0-38-1, Oram 2-0-14-1, Vettori 4-0-20-4, Styris 3-0-25-0.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 67/0; 10: 96/2; 15: 135/5; end of innings: 180/9 in 20 overs.
Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 76/1.