NEW DELHI: India must not press the panic button despite losing badly to New Zealand in their first warm-up game for the World Cup, the country’s batting legend Sachin Tendulkar said.

New Zealand thrashed India, one of the World Cup favourites, by six wickets at the Oval on Sunday with only Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya scoring more than 20 in India’s total of 179.

India’s batsmen were ‘blown away’ on the green wicket, the Hindustan Times said, sounding the alarm for their World Cup hopes. But Tendulkar called for calm.

“I will not judge the team after each and every game. It’s a tournament and things like these will happen,” Tendulkar was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.

“The main tournament has not even started yet. I think, we need to settle down, one or two games may go here and there.

“India should make the most of the practice matches,” added Tendulkar, the highest scorer in Test and one-day cricket. “They should understand what kind of surfaces they might get. I won’t panic at all as of now.”

New Zealand begin their World Cup against Sri Lanka in Cardiff on June 1, while India face South Africa in Southampton on June 5.

Tendulkar also said teams used warm-up games to try different players, which was another reason not to read too much into the results.

“Teams are trying different combinations,” he said.

“Almost all teams are not sure about their front-line playing 11. Several bowlers and batsmen are rested,” he said.

“All the teams are preparing and trying different combinations in those conditions which would work for them,” said the former opener, who played in six World Cups.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2019