Brendon McCullum laments New Zealand's confidence loss

Brendon McCullum admitted New Zealand have forgotten how to win after the team were hammered by India in their second warm-up match before theWorld Cup

New Zealand recently slumped to a 3-2 defeat in an ODI series at home to Pakistan, and before that were on an 11-game losing streak. They lost by 117 runs to India on February 16, with dreadful bowling in the last 10 overs and a poor run chase underpinning another sloppy defeat.

They open their campaign on Sunday against Kenya and are in dire need of a confidence booster. "We have to face up to the fact that under pressure we aren't performing well. We just aren't getting it done under pressure," McCullum told Radio Sport.

Asked if the team had forgotten how to win, McCullum, who was a sole bright spot during the warm-up game, top-scoring for his team with 58, replied: "That's probably a fair summation. Someone has to flick the switch, somewhere along the line we have to get ourselves across the finishing line and with a W [win] in the column. If we can do that it will start to breed the confidence that we need.

"Until such time that we do that, we are going to somehow have to borrow some confidence to stare down those situations and dream that we are capable of achieving success in those moments."

New Zealand have a reputation for punching above their weight in global tournaments and have reached the semi-final stage five times in the World Cup without ever progressing further. In 2007 they were defeated by Sri Lanka in the semis but to repeat even that performance McCullum insists they need to up their game.

"[The India loss] has definitely dented our confidence a little bit, there's no doubting that. But we can't have that mental blockage or mental baggage heading into this World Cup. We have to ditch that quickly."

The team conceded 114 in the final 10 overs against India and McCullum was less than impressed with the showing. "It's unacceptable. I guess the effort is there but we have to be better than that and that's the brutal truth. We need to turn it around very quickly."

Captain Daniel Vettori missed the match with a hamstring worry but McCullum is confident he will be back in action soon. "It was more precautionary. I saw him running around after the game tonight [Wednesday] and doing a bit of fielding. It looked like he was moving freely."

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India Won By 117 Runs Vs New Zealand 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup Warm Up Match

MS Dhoni Strikes Once Again With Smashing Century 

India won by 117 runs, Indian skipper Dhoni and Suresh Raina hard hitting proved costly. India vs New Zealand (Ind vs NZ) ICC World Cup 2011 warm up match was kicked off at Chidambram stadium, Chepak, Chennai on 16th February.

Score and Highlights: India 360/5 (50.0 overs) MS Dhoni 108* and J Oram 2/64. New Zealand 243/10 (43.1 overs) Brendon McCullum 58 and Harbhajan Singh 2/17.

India won the toss and decided to bat first. Virender Sehwag and Sachin opened the Indian innings and given decent start but both were dismissed in short time. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kholi added century run stand. Gambhir missed out an opportunity of scoring century. Suresh and MS Dhoni shifted the gears and started scoring quickly in final overs.  Indian Captain MS Dhoni century and Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kholi and Suresh Raina half centuries helped India to impose huge total of 360.

MS Dhoni (108)* is the top scorer from India. Gautam Gambhir (89), Virat Kholi (55), Suresh Raina (50), Virender Sehwag (23) and Sachin Tendulkar (17) are the rest of performers.

New Zealand bowling attack, no specialist spinner in playing eleven and spinners like Nathan McCullum inexperience was cashed in by Indian batsmen. New Zealand bowlers, Tim Southee and Jacob Oram shared two wickets each and Kyle Mills had one wicket against his name.

New Zealand chasing huge total of 361 runs to win, they got a good start they were scoring five runs per over which was insufficient. The top three batsmen have scored some runs along with Brendon McCullum scoring half century and no other batsman had a real intent of winning the match. Positive sign for kiwis is that their top order scoring runs and middle inexperience is evident.

New Zealand scorecard: Martin Guptill (38), Brendon McCullum (58), Jesse Ryder (32), Ross Taylor (5), James Franklin (0), Scott Styris (20), Jamie How (15), Jacob Oram (12), Nathan McCullum (29)*, L Woodcock (9) and Kyle Mills (2).

Indian bowling attack, fast bowlers were not able to pick the wickets until spinners were introduced. Suresh Raina is the first wicket taker with his athletic fielding, spinners picked up seven wickets in the tally of ten. Ashish Nehra cleaned by the tail by dislodging last two wickets.

Indian bowlers, Ashish Nehra, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh have taken two wickets each and R Ashwin has settled with one wicket each.

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