Our challenge is to build partnership at top in next games: NZ coach

New Zealands Colin de Grandhomme (L) walks from the field after being caught as Indias Yuzvendra Chahal (C and Indias Kuldeep Yadav celebrate during the second one-day international (ODI) cricket match between New Zealand and India in Tauranga on January

New Zealand coach Gary Stead Saturday said that the biggest challenge for his batsmen in the remainder of the series is to build partnerships at the top of the order. New Zealand were dismissed for 234 in reply to India-s 324 for 4 to suffer a 90-run loss in the second ODI.

The hosts had lost the opening match by eight wickets. Asked about the performance, Stead said:"It performance has improved slightly but obviously not a polished performance from us," Stead told reporters.

"They batted well and I was thinking it could have been 350 plus. So I am pleased with the back end bowling performance there. In the end, the work Bracewell put in was a promising sign but it wasn-t a complete performance by any means." New Zealand failed to build partnership at the top with no 8 batsman Doug Bracewell 57 sharing 58 runs with no 10 Lockie Furgusen.

"We haven-t build partnership across the top 6-7, which was the strength of what we did so well against Sri Lanka and what we haven-t clicked or done here yet. As a batting unit, that is going to be our challenge going into the next three games, to build those partnership," the coach said. "Our guys know that you can-t rely on lower order to win games, its got to be the top order to score the majority of the runs, we haven-t done that as yet in the two games.

"I still have faith in our squad, we are still in someway experimenting, trying to work our what is our best XI is, and it is an ongoing thing, it will slightly change with the conditions as well," he said.

New Zealand struggled against the wrist spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who accounted for 12 wickets out of 20 wickets. "We didn-t have the partnerships, it is not that we can-t play spin bowling, it is just that we have taken some options which haven-t been the best option at times," he said.

"Look, I have faith on our guys. We played spin very well against Sri Lanka, so it is not like we can-t, it is just that we haven-t done it as effectively here." Talking about the Indian spinners, Stead said: "The two wrist spinners that they have here are very effective spinners. Our challenge is to find a way to be better.

"But look we wanted to be with the run-rate, in terms of the target we set ourself, it is the wicket that hurt us so we have to find a way to minimise that specially in the first 30 overs."

With the World Cup round the corner, Stead said they are trying to find the right eleven. "The World Cup is still secondary. We want to win this series first and foremost. We are just still working on what we think is our best 11 and how to balance the team with right number of all-rounders, batsman and bowlers, we are still working on that," he said. "But to be perfectly honest is secondary thing for me at the moment, it is still about working out in this series what we need to do to win three on a row now."

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