Smith blames batters for New Zealand loss

Steve Smith says Australia's batsmen are to blame for Friday's World T20 loss, where they failed to chase down New Zealand's 8-142 in Dharamshala. 

Smith's men got off to a flyer through openers Shane Watson (13) and Usman Khawaja (38), but collapsed from 0-44 in the 6th over to 4-66 in the at the start of the 11th. 

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While Australia possess one of the deepest batting line-ups in world cricket, constant wickets cruelled their hopes of chasing down the Black Caps total and starting their World T20 campaign with a win.

"I thought we did pretty well to restrict them to 143," Smith told reporters after play. 

"I think the batters are to blame for this one. 

"We didn't apply ourselves well enough and didn't get those partnerships throughout the middle which really cost us."

Batsmen from both teams struggled to consistently time the ball once the thick lacquer of the new ball was worn off by the coarse centre wicket square.

While Smith used his quartet of pace-bowling allrounders to harness reverse swing and make scoring difficult, the Black Caps turned to their spinners to do the damage, with Mitchell Santner (2-30) and Ish Sodhi (1-14) suppressing the run rate.

"I think when the ball got a little bit older it chewed up pretty quickly and you could see there was quite a lot of spin, and that's always difficult to play," Smith said. 

"Credit to the New Zealand bowlers, they got the ball in the right areas and made us play some pretty average shots. 

"For us it's about finding a way in the seven to 15 overs, try to build a few partnerships. 

"It might not be about trying to clear the fence, it might be about getting lots of singles and getting off strike, lots of twos, something we haven't done so well and we didn't do it well again today."

Australia lost 3-50 in overs seven to 15, which is comparatively better than the Black Caps' 4-41, but Smith says it's the area where his side needs to improve the most.

And they need to do it quickly, with their next match on Monday against Bangladesh in Bangalore.

"I guess it's each individual thinking the best way to play in the middle overs," Smith said. 

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"It might not be about going after the ball and trying to hit fours and sixes. 

"It might be about getting off strike, hitting the ball with the spin, things like that, to make sure that we can get a few partnerships together and have the wickets in the shed to unleash the power we have at the back end. 

"Because we certainly do have a lot of power there, it's just about giving the guys a chance to use it."

It's now virtual sudden death for Smith and his charges, but the skipper believes he has the squad to win the one trophy that has eluded Australia.

"We're still confident," he said. 

"We've obviously got to turn it around very quickly, with our next game at Bangalore. 

"But I'm confident in the group that we've got, that we can do it. 

"Hopefully we come out and win in a couple of days' time."