The defending champions were completely outplayed in Ahmedabad as the Kiwis registered an emphatic nine-wicket win to extract a sweet revenge of their World Cup final heartbreak four years ago.,
Riding on Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra’s dazzling tons, the Black Caps chased down their target of 283 in just 36.2 overs.
Buttler admitted that the defeat was a ‘tough loss’ but the disappointment will not blur his perspective going forward in the tournament.
“The first thing that springs to mind is whether you lose by a run or a defeat like that, it is one loss at the start of a very long tournament,” the 33-year-old told reporters.
“That’s something that I’d be encouraging everyone to remember.
“It’s certainly a tough loss to take…but just as we, had we won the game, don’t get too high, we don’t get too low when we lose as well.”
Joe Root top-scored for England with 77, while Buttler (43) and Jonny Bairstow (33) also made starts.
“We were probably looking at a score of 320-330 which would have allowed us to build some kind of pressure,” said Buttler.
“But I thought the margin for error was very small on that wicket and two (New Zealand) batters played exceptional innings.”
England rested Ben Stokes, who is nursing a minor hip injury, and tried Harry Brook, who made a brisk 25 at number four before his soft dismissal.
Buttler said it was not the first time England had suffered a heavy defeat.
“We’re not robots. Sometimes you don’t play as well as you would like. Everyone’s working hard everyone’s prepared well and as I said we were just a bit off,” he said.
“There’s plenty of stuff for us to work on and get better at the start of a long tournament.”
England play Bangladesh in Dharamsala on Tuesday hoping to boost their net run-rate.
(With inputs from Reuters)
