If there's one positive to take away from the Blackcaps' five-wicket defeat to India in Jaipur on Thursday morning, it's the performance of Mark Chapman.
Chapman, 27, slotted into the Blackcaps' side at No.3 in the batting order, taking the place of captain Kane Williamson - who is sitting the three-match T20 series out to prepare for the upcoming test series against their hosts later this month.
Arriving at the crease to face the fourth ball of the innings, Chapman impressed with a well made 63 runs from 50 balls, hitting six boundaries and two sixes, as part of a partnership worth 109 with Martin Guptill (70).
Chapman's knock is all the more impressive considering he'd spent the entire T20 World Cup campaign sitting on the subs bench for the Blackcaps - with his last competitive match coming all the way back in April, when New Zealand whitewashed Bangladesh at the end of the home summer.
What's more, Chapman's innings sees him become the first player to score half-centuries for two different nations, after starting his international career with Hong Kong.
Speaking post match, Guptill commended Chapman's contribution to the team's performance, which saw the Blackcaps post 164/6 from their 20 overs.
"Not ideal losing Daryl [Mitchell] in the first over," Guptill says.
"But I think the way Chappy adapted, having not played a lot of cricket lately, to coming in, spending some time in the middle, to put on a hundred partnership with him and set up an extended death phase really helped the team to a competitive total."
The Blackcaps could be forgiven for letting their focus slip in this three match series, coming just three days after Monday's Twenty20 World Cup final defeat to Australia.
The team departed the UAE less than 24 hours after their loss in Dubai, thrown straight into the cauldron of another series.
And even though India have named a second-string side, the Blackcaps can't afford that luxury, due to the difficulties of travel in a COVID-19 impacted world.
The Blackcaps were forced to field test prospect Rachin Ravindra as an all-rounder in Thursday's series opener, thanks to Jimmy Neesham coming down with a stomach bug before the game.
But despite the difficulties, Guptill assures the Blackcaps aren't facing any challenge they haven't already had to overcome in recent times.
"I don't think we've played bad cricket in the last two games. We've just come out on the wrong side.
"It's the way cricket can go. It's certainly different, [playing] a World Cup final two days ago, jump on a plane, and here we are in India playing another one.
"It's a quick series, and quick turnaround, but we've done it all before."
Game two of the three match series will be played on Saturday morning (NZ time) in Ranchi.
