After announcing them as a real contender for the title with an unbeaten Super 10 run, New Zealand fell awfully short against England in the first semi-finals here on Wednesday.
In the end New Zealand's inability to score runs caused them dearly from making their dream possible.
The Kiwis scored 89 in the first ten overs, but managed only 64 against in the final ten against England which proved crucial to their downfall.
Their skipper Kane Williamson felt they were 25 runs short and the game changed in the last five overs of their innings where they lost five wickets for 32 runs to end at 153 for eight.
"Yes," he said when asked about the game swinging in England's favour in the last five overs.
"I think we got off to a good start. We were probably 25 runs short and England bowled really well in the death period which made it really difficult for us. Unfortunately, we were not able to connect as well as we would have liked. "
After Williamson (32) and Colin Munro (46) had laid the foundation for a big score, the Kiwis fell awfully short in the end, which proved costly.
"130/3 I think was certainly a very good platform. We would have like to get a few more. like I said it wasn't through lack of effort. England bowled well. T20 is pretty fickle in its nature and today wasn't mean to be for us. It is a fine line, T20 T20, and it didn't work for us today."
Without their retired captain Brendon McCullum, not many people had their money on the Black Caps to shine this time around. But, the Kiwis, often referred as the Dark Horses, lived up to the tag by upsetting big guns in their group to enter the semi-final in style.
New Zealand started the tournament with a resounding upset win over favourites and hosts India. They followed it with another narrow victory against their fierce-rivals Australia.
After securing their last-4 spot with a win against Pakistan, a changed Kiwis team had a comfortable outing in the dead rubber against Bangladesh.
However, the biggest worry has been the lack of runs. Only once in the Super 10, New Zealand scored more than 150 runs. It was against Pakistan, when they ended up getting 180/5.
In the semi-final they did manage to cross the barrier, however, considering where New Zealand were at one point of time, settling for 153 would not have pleased the Black Caps camp.
Throughout the tournament they made up for their batting deficiency with their spin strength, but when their spin wizards finally read out, New Zealand's lack of runs on board did not help much.
Despite their untimely exit, Williamson is happy with the way the tournament has shaped for them.
"Overall in the tournament we played some good T20 cricket. In this format, you can lose games and we came up against a better team today," he concluded.