The 24-run win over India in the first ODI was significant for New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum, for various reasons. It not only gave them a 1-0 lead in the five-match series but also the morale boosting satisfaction of outplaying the world champions. The win was all the more special given it came despite another stellar performance from the best batsman in the opposition, Virat Kohli. "The result today is huge for us,” McCullum said. “To start the series against what is a very good Indian team and given that Virat Kohli performed as well as what he did [was commendable]. Yet we come out on top, it is a really good sign. I am delighted for the guys, delighted with today's performance.” While he cherished the opening win, McCullum acknowledged that the tables could turn soon in a five-match series. "There are still four tough games to go and India will get better as the tour goes on. But there is a little bit we can improve on as well," he said. The Kiwi skipper credited the win on his batsmen’s adeptness at handling India’s spinners and pacer Mitchell McClenaghan’s triple strike to remove Dhoni, Jadeja and Virat in the span of two overs. "We played the spinners well. It doesn't turn a great deal here in Napier, so it could obviously be a different challenge in Hamilton. But the way we played the spinners, and also the two guys that we had at the crease against spinners are two of our best batters against spin bowling, their ability to put together a partnership through rotating the strike and picking up the odd boundary was key in allowing us that platform that we wanted," McCullum said, speaking about the 121-run third-wicket partnership between Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. "For the majority of the game, we were excellent. It was a good fight back. But when Kohli and Dhoni were putting together that partnership, we were obviously starting to slip. But this is a funny game. You are only one or two wickets away from being right back in the driver's seat. Thankfully, we were able to get those wickets and put together what was a pretty good all-round performance. "Mitchell keeps producing results. He bounced out four batsmen today, which is great. That's the plan we wanted to implement and Mitch was a big part of that as well. He has the handy knack of picking up wickets at key times,” McCullum said. The captain had special words for Man of the Match, Corey Anderson who scored 68* off 40 balls and returned bowling figures of 5 for 51. "He is not always going to keep scoring like that but as long as he is always trying to do that, that's fine. As long as he's doing the right thing in terms of attacking and trying to take wickets for us, then we know what we are going to get. He did it again today and he is certainly proving to be pretty good," said McCullum, The plan worked well for New Zealand today as they unleashed a four-pronged pace attack but a side strain to their young fast bowler Adam Milne soured the mood a bit. "When you bowl at that pace, there is always a risk that you are going to get injured. I feel for him at the moment, he is obviously very disappointed that he has come down with the injury. But the overs that he gave us were hostile and he performed the role that we asked of him. We will obviously have to assess him tomorrow but it is not great at the moment," McCullum revealed.