Nathan McCullum and New Zealand proved too good for India. Photo / Getty
Nathan McCullum and New Zealand proved too good for India. Photo / Getty
New Zealand humiliated World Twenty20 host India in the opening blockbuster of the tournament and it's a loss that has reverberated around the world.
No one could quite believe the hosts - on a seven-match Twenty20 winning streak - could be so outplayed on home soil.
Here's how the worldreacted.
INDIAN MEDIA
The Times of India's Avijit Ghosh said the result showed India's recent successes in T20 were a lie. "Now that the team's aura of invincibility has been snatched away, everybody will feel they have a chance against India," he wrote.
"Self-doubts could haunt the Men in Blue now. When you know that every match is a knock-out game, free-flowing cricket takes a back seat.
"The truth is that India was never the kind of solid unit that many ex-cricketers had made it out to be. Undeniably, (MS) Dhoni and company were on a winning spree of late.
"But the wins against Australia and Sri Lanka earlier this year came against vastly experimental sides."
"MS Dhoni and his men came into the tournament on a seven-match winning streak. They were back home now, just as New Zealand were in alien territory. They had not played in the subcontinent for two years, and their batting had all the symptoms of it to put up only 126 for 7.
"India were 39 for 5, and definitely nervous now. Not long after, they were left a bit red-faced."
Sriram Veera of indianexpress.com wrote India's reputation of being the best batsman against spin in the world is a bit of a myth.
"When have a bunch of foreign spinners, relatively callow at that, come here and tied up the Indians, and teased, taunted and suffocated them?" he wrote.
"Whatever you feel about this loss as fan of India, there couldn't have been more thrilling way to start the main draw of the World Cup. Now the cat is flung and howling among the pigeons. If there was any plan to prepare turners for India - whether it was done at team's behest or independently is beside the point here - the least the curators can do is to check the schedule properly and see who the opponents are.
"Later, Dhoni talked about 140 being a par-score and how it was a 'good wake-up call'. It was more than that of course. This was India's second lowest T20 total, and the lowest ever T20 total by any international team in India. And their aggregate of 79 was also what South Africa had scored in the first innings in that darned Nagpur Test.
"So it wasn't just a mild wake-up vibratory call from the fit-bit phones of today but it was like being dunked by cold water on a bone-chilling night, and when you shudder and wake up, what do you see? The cute nerdy face of Mitchell Santner."
INDIAN CAPTAIN MS DHONI
On a night when his team inexplicably broke down, Indian captain MS Dhoni moved to shift at least part of the blame onto the slow pitch and spin-friendly conditions.
"It was a low-scoring wicket definitely and I though we restricted them to a good total, but there were quite a few soft dismissals," Dhoni said.
"It was not like the deliveries got the batsmen out. But the shot selection kept putting pressure on the batsmen coming in. We had no partnerships in the middle so we were quite down when it came to the run rate.
"We lacked a bit of adaptability."
BLACK CAPS CAPTAIN KANE WILLIAMSON
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson acknowledged it was "a tough surface".
"We thought whatever score we can get we knew would be tough to chase," he said. "Having said that we would probably have liked a few more runs. But the way the boys bowled was outstanding."
Williamson said it had been tough to omit top class seamers Trent Boult and Tim Southee but the state of the pitch dictated the selection.
''They're both world class bowlers but it was important we looked to adapt as best we can to these conditions. It did spin a lot and our spinners paid off today."
SOCIAL MEDIA
India and Pakistan are the fiercest of rivals on and off the cricket pitch, so it's no surprise Pakistan cricket fans appeared to enjoy the demise od MS Dhoni's men more than everyone else.
A long-running television ad aired across India in the lead up to the tournament featured a Pakistan fan still waiting for his team to beat India in a an ICC World Cup - both in 50-overs and Twenty20 cricket.
The famous "Mauka Mauka" ad features a Pakistan fan then switching to support whichever team is playing against India only for all of those teams to also lose as well.
Pakistan fans in Nagpur for the tournament opener were happy to remind Indian supporters about the ad after India had been bowled out for 79 from 18.1 overs.
India's batting was so bad and the team's hopes of winning the tournament for a second time now appear so bleak, fans on social media called for a minute's silence to be held for the Indian batting order.
Not everyone celebrated India's downfall.
No, I didn't expect #IND to struggle so badly...pls raise your hand if you thought otherwise (also, pl share the screenshot of that tweet)😉
India now face Australia in Dharamsala on Friday night with their tournament already hanging by a thread. They then face Pakistan in Kolkata on Sunday morning.
