More important to look at positives than series loss: Yuzvendra Chahal

Mount Maunganui, Feb 11:  Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal said that the positives that came from India's ODI series defeat to New Zealand should be looked upon more than the defeat itself. India succumbed to a rare series whitewash on Tuesday when a 5-wicket loss in Mount Maunganui ensured that the series ended 3-0 in the host's favour.

"Overall, if you see it is just the fourth or fifth series loss in the last 4-5 years. The other team is also here to play. You cannot win every match. We have won one series, lost the other, so it is not something too serious to ponder over," said Chahal at the post-match press conference.

The defeat follows a 5-0 win for India in the preceding T20I series. Over the course of the tour, consistent performances from KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer has cemented middle order positions for the pair. India also tried out a new opening pair of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal, thus making this a rare series in which both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have not featured.

"Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal came into the side, so youngsters got to play outside India. It is not easy to play in New Zealand. But overall if we see, it is just an ODI series. We did win the T20 series 5-0, first time, that's a positive for us as well," said Chahal.

"You can see the confidence in them (KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer). They are 25-26 years old and batting with maturity. They understand the situation well. It is not easy to bat in the middle overs especially when the spinners are bowling. Rahul has also batted up the order at times. So, it shows the maturity that he knows what the team needs.

"They have played quite extraordinarily in this series. So we need to appreciate that. Poor fielding happens at times. Once in 10 series it happens, we have time until the next ODI series. We have seen what are the shortcomings and we have enough time to work on it before the next series," said Chahal.

The tour was preceded by Indian captain Virat Kohli stating that the tight schedule of the team takes a toll on the players. Chahal said that any exertion from travelling happened in the T20I series. "The main exertion happened in T20s. We didn't care much about jetlag etc., and got on the park to play. We gave 100 per cent in every game. We are professional cricketers so we didn't think much about it," he said.