Chennai, February 17 New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips believes playing a T20I series against hosts India has helped them learn and adapt to the conditions in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The Black Caps played a white-ball series comprising five-match T20Is and three ODIs in India before the T20 World Cup.
On Tuesday, New Zealand qualified to the Super Eights from a tricky group that included South Africa, Afghanistan, Canada and UAE. The Kiwis won three of their four games with their only loss coming against the Proteas.
"We had a good lead-up with India and learned a lot over there about the conditions. And we've had a couple of conditions that have changed over here as well, which is fantastic.
"We've had to be adaptable. And credit to the teams that we've played, they've obviously batted very well on all occasions, which is great. And it's put us under a bit of pressure," Phillips said after New Zealand's eight-wicket win over Canada.
"But I think that's really good for us going forward into the next Super 8 phase."
New Zealand, who played their group games in Chennai and Ahmedabad, will now fly to Sri Lanka for their Super Eight matches.
"Understanding the (conditions in) Sri Lanka is going to be obviously different again," Phillips said.
"I guess that part of the tournament starts coming down to who's going to keep their calm the most and I guess who can -- not necessarily play the long game per se, because it's obviously T20 cricket, but who can hold their nerve for the longest, especially if pitches start deteriorating."
Against Canada, Phillips scored an unbeaten 36-ball 76 and shared a match winning 146-run partnerships with Rachin Ravindra, who roared back to form with a 39-ball 59.
"Yeah, he's a fantastic cricketer. And it's one of those things where class is permanent and form is temporary," Phillips said when asked about Ravindra.
"So it was only a matter of time before he was going to come right again, and the beauty of this team is that selection is given for over a long period of time, and we trust our players, and we have a great group of guys where we're giving to something bigger than ourselves."
The associate nations have impressed in the ongoing tournament with Zimbabwe defeating Australia and Nepal and Italy almost defeating England.
Phillips said competing against associate teams can be nerve-wracking as there is an element of the unknown, along with the pressure to win.
"Yeah, actually I think it would be fantastic. For me personally, they're the most nerve-wracking games because you're playing guys that you haven't seen before," he said.
"You know on their given day they're all quality as well, but then there's also the stigma that you should beat them and that becomes quite tough, especially on the world stage where people tighten up."
Phillips stressed the World Cup exposure is crucial for the growth of the Associate nations.
"We see upsets in World Cups all the time. And that's fantastic for the associate nations to have that experience, to understand and get a taste of what it's like at the top level.
"But they produce some really good cricketers. On their day, they're fantastic and they match up with everybody out there. So yeah, playing more associate nations would be fantastic and they can't grow without that exposure I suppose as well," Phillips added.
