Blackcaps batter Daryl Mitchell is philosophical, when reflecting on his team's dramatic defeat in the first Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka, with his side's Super Over struggles once again exposed.
Ish Sodhi stepped up to blast a clutch six off the final ball of the NZ winnings at Auckland's Eden Park to tie the scores at 196, sending the contest to a decisive extra over.
Taking their turn to bat first, the Blackcaps wobbled through their over, losing the wickets of Jimmy Neesham and Mark Chapman to essentially be bowled out for a meagre total of eight, which the Sri Lankans made light work of.
New Zealand have now lost seven of their eight Super Overs in T20 internationals.
"I thought the way they bowled their [Super] Over was very good and I guess, when you lose a wicket early in the over, it makes it challenging in terms of trying to make sure you get enough runs to be competitive," Mitchell said.
"I thought the way [Adam] Milne bowled… that six [off the second ball], if it was two metres shorter it's a wicket and it's game on, so that's the game that we play and we were just a couple of small margins off today.
"It's a sport - there's a winner and a loser, and we were on the other side today."
Mitchell was the pick of the NZ batters, blasting 66 runs off 44 balls to ensure his side kept pace with their chase, while Tom Latham, Mark Chapman and Rachin Ravindra contributed important cameos.
"At Eden Park, the deeper you take it, the more chance you have at the end of catching up," he said. "We were really happy with where we were in staying with the DLS [Duckworth Lewis Stern] total the whole way through.
"That's sort of an indicator of where we want to be, when chasing. I thought we were in a great position, and it was really cool to see the likes of Tom Latham and Mark Chapman come out with that intent right through the middle, and then Rachin [Ravindra] and Sodhi do a job at the end.
"I think they'll take a lot of confidence away from doing that job... it was really good to see those guys stand up."
Rather than dwell on the result, Mitchell prefers to focus on the performance of a relatively inexperienced NZ XI against a highly vaunted Sri Lanka T20 outfit.
"We love to win series for our country, but at the same time, it's about getting better as a group," Mitchell added. "We know we've got a young group here at the moment, one that hasn't played a lot of international cricket..
"I guess to push the Asia Cup champions to a Super Over is really cool to see for some of the younger guys, who haven't played a lot of cricket.
"For us, we're just really proud to be representing our country, and try and make sure we concentrate on winning the little moments, and doing the things that we believe, as Blackcaps, are our values."
The second T20 in the three-match series takes place in Dunedin on Wednesday.
Join Newshub at 1pm Wednesday for live updates of the second Blackcaps v Sri Lanka T20
