Victorious captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday lavished praise on his bowlers, saying Aashish Nehra did an excellent job with the new ball while Yuvraj Singh played the part-time spinner's role to perfection.
Assured of a place in Monday's final against Sri Lanka, Dhoni said skittling out New Zealand for 155 inside 47 overs made the batsmen's job easy and both Nehra and Yuvraj, who shared six wickets between themselves, deserve credit.
"Ashish Nehra did the job for us by picking up the early wickets and Yuvraj was a great find with the ball," an elated Dhoni said after the match.
"It was a good start by the bowlers and our seamers were really good on Friday," Dhoni said.
"Besides, Yuvraj did well as a part-timer. I think New Zealand lost because they needed one more spinner on this track. (Daniel) Vettori bowled well but they lacked one spinner, while we used Yuvraj," he explained.
Even though the target was modest, India were in a spot of bother at 84 for four before Dhoni (35 not out) and Suresh Raina (45 not out) featured in an unfinished 72-run stand to see the side through with nearly 10 overs to spare.
{{/usCountry}}Even though the target was modest, India were in a spot of bother at 84 for four before Dhoni (35 not out) and Suresh Raina (45 not out) featured in an unfinished 72-run stand to see the side through with nearly 10 overs to spare.
{{/usCountry}}"To chase 150-160, you need 2-3 good partnership. At 84 for four, we were a bit tense but the batsmen did the job for us," Dhoni said.
"The target was not really big and we waited for the right ball to attack," he said.