Losing Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan in successive overs cost India the second Twenty20 match against New Zealand, according to captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who said a better display by the pacers could have tilted the game in his team's favour.

Dhoni felt the team got off to a decent start and as long as he and Yuvrai Singh were in the middle, there was nothing to panic about. But losing both Yuvraj and Yusuf in a span of four balls proved costly in the end, he rued.

"Yusuf got out off inside edge, that was crucial because we banked on those kind of batsmen. When me and Yuvi were batting, we wanted to play the middle overs. We had a decent start and we had big hitters down the order," Dhoni pointed out. "Those 2-3 wickets we lost in the middle was very crucial for us."

Dhoni also felt a slightly better show by the new ball bowlers could have tilted the close game in India's favour. "I think if we had bowled a little better with the new ball and not given so many runs up front, may be things could have been different. The match went to the last ball and you don't expect anything better," said the Indian captain.

Dhoni, however, was happy with the way his spinners, especially Ravindra Jadeja, tried to defend a sub-150 score. "I'm still happy with the way the spinners, especially the way Jadeja bowled. There was a chat around in the camp to play one more seamer but Jadeja did a fantastic job. He scored a few runs and bowled well too," Dhoni said.

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori was happy with the bowlers who, for the second match on the trot, restricted India's star-studded lineup to a modest total.

"I'm pleased with the bowling effort. Guys like (Jesse) Ryder stepped up really well. We had an opportunity to attack their fifth bowler but it didn't work," Vettori said.

Lavishing praise on Brendon McCullum, who picked his second successive Man-of-the-Match award for his unbeaten match-winning 69, Vettori said, "It was great batting by him. The two fours he hit in the last over brought us back in the match and he then finished it off."

McCullum, on his part, said his 53-run stand with Ryder made the job easy. "I'm really happy and I think I played better than the last match. We had a really quick start and it was a matter of keeping pace with things," he said.