NEW DELHI: New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips on Monday asserted that the loss to South Africa will not impact the team heading into their final Group D fixture against bottom-placed Canada, as the Kiwis aim to confirm their Super Eights qualification.

New Zealand are currently second in the standings with two wins from three matches, trailing South Africa, who have already sealed their Super Eights spot with six points.

The Kiwis will seek to correct the shortcomings exposed during the seven-wicket defeat to South Africa and re-establish their credentials as title contenders. Phillips believes the setback should not be treated as the "be-all end-all of learnings".

"You look at games of T20 cricket and there's small margins between winning and losing. South Africa were very good in all facets of the game the other day. On our day as well, we've taken (on) South Africa, well, in different formats," Phillips said.

"But we've played our best cricket in the recent past, so understanding that you don't necessarily look at one game as the be-all end-all of learnings. There's not necessarily been a pattern per se. If our top order has gone down, then our middle order (has) stepped up. Sometimes, it just happens to be the way that the top order gets off to a start and then the middle can't go through.

"That's just the nature of T20 cricket when you're trying to keep the momentum going the whole time. But if you look at the options the boys took, they're in really clear mindsets."

Execution remains key

Phillips stressed that execution often makes the decisive difference in the shortest format.

"It just comes down to execution at the end of the day. With the ball as well, we're just trying to make sure that we're hitting our straps as much as possible. Guys are allowed to hit you (on) good balls and then if we didn't bowl as well as we have on previous days, then we look at that and we can be better on the next day and that's fine.

"It's professional cricket at the end of the day and sometimes you're good and sometimes you're not. You just hope the gap between the two is a little less each day."

Focus shifts to Sri Lanka conditions

Should they advance to the Super Eights — as widely anticipated — New Zealand will travel to Sri Lanka. Phillips emphasised that adapting to local conditions will be crucial.

"I don't think it's about necessarily improving on any given thing per se. It's about adapting as much as possible to the conditions. The conditions in Sri Lanka are going to be very different to the ones that we've got here, so it poses a completely different challenge.

"There's no one thing in cricket that's a magic nugget to be able to give performances, so it's just about trying to be a little bit better and doing our things that we do best for longer periods of time, especially if the conditions dictate that we're going to have to take a game a little bit longer," he said.

"Maybe scores of 150-160 might be different in Sri Lanka with a bit more turn, but you never know. We may get an absolute belter and then 200 still on. It's just (about) adapting to those conditions regardless of who we're playing at any given time."

(With PTI Inputs)