"I bowled two (knuckle balls) today. Didn't you see that?" Lockie Ferguson asked the room, wondering how his guile was missed in New Zealand's opening match in Chennai. "One was a yorker," he continued to flaunt, but to no avail

On not getting the required affirmation, he was left rather amused, "Tough crowd, jeez!"

Along with his express pace, Ferguson brought to the fore every skill in his armoury on Sunday - the cutter, the back of the hand slower ball, and the 'two' knuckle balls - as he controlled the middle and the late phases of New Zealand's bowling innings on a surface where there wasn't much room for the bowlers to hide.

It was a day much-needed for the New Zealand bowlers. It was a chance to flex their skills after having been battered by the Indian batters over five matches in the last few weeks. It was a day to showcase all the skills they had developed, at least against teams that weren't going to bat like they were out to shatter records.

They came to the party on a day when Afghanistan spinners were expected to challenge their batters. The reverse played out even before the contest gained any momentum. For all of Afghanistan's explosiveness, it was New Zealand's pacers who controlled the outcome, exploiting the pace and bounce of the surface.

That control began in the powerplay, where the pacers bowled more than 60 percent of their deliveries on short of good length. With ample zip on offer, Matt Henry and Jacob Duffy kept the Afghan openers on the backfoot, often hurrying them into their shots. After failing to click into higher gears in the first three overs - in which they managed to score only 15 runs - just when the openers threatened to cut loose, New Zealand struck twice, one of which interestingly was the slowest ball of the powerplay - expertly disguised by Ferguson at 120 kmph.

These variations are going to be handy in this World Cup, where big scores are expected to be the trend, and every well-disguised delivery and dot ball would hold massive value. Ferguson is still trying to figure out the best and time to utilise the skills at his disposal.

"In India it's hard to know sometimes what a par score is. The wickets here are so good. The years I've been coming they've been getting better and better," Ferguson said.

"It's (variations are) non-negotiable. Every international bowler has those variations. For me, back of the hand works well, for Matt Henry and Duff [Jacob Duffy], off cutters are really nice. It's such an important part of the game, particularly in this part of the world where the wickets are so good. You need to change the ball in the air or off the surface. It's something we work very hard on."

"Picking and choosing the times to use them is sometimes a challenge, and obviously with the way I bowl, it's important to keep running in and bowling quick so that change-ups - when it does happen - becomes more of a surprise. We're always learning and growing as we play this game. I'm still learning when to use it."

Even as 13 balls separated the two teams on Sunday, it wasn't as much about Afghanistan making too many errors as it was about the gulf in execution with both bat and ball between the two teams. Batting, Afghanistan's weakest suit mustered 182 for 6 on a friendly surface, a total which should have been competitive, especially after New Zealand were reduced to 14 for 2 in the second over. But it wasn't to be. New Zealand sustained their attack despite the twin dismissals and Afghanistan bowlers crumbled under pressure against a counter-offensive led by Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips. In an alliance which lasted less than eight overs, the duo flipped the momentum of the contest.

The difference between the two sides eventually boiled down to how the pacers exploited the conditions - how they used the pace to their advantage, and how they didn't use the change-ups enough to counter the evenness of the surface.

"We didn't land the ball in the right area consistently and that gave them so many runs in the middle overs," Rashid Khan admitted following Afghanistan's loss. "If we bowled into the stumps and in the good length area, it was very hard to score. And just to mix it up, that's something we didn't do."

Afghanistan's hopes that the spinners would have a greater role to play as the match progressed backfired. To make matters worse, the usually reliable Rashid was also taken apart by Glenn Philips in his opening over, and was threatened to be challenged more. It was eventually a rare full toss, which Phillips edged back on to the stumps to relieve Rashid of an otherwise forgettable outing.

Different venues and different timings aren't going to offer much of a takeaway for the two teams, but for now, Rashid hopes that despite the batting performance he is content with, there would be a need to not find themselves arrested at 44 for 2 by the end of the powerplay, especially on days when Afghanistan won't be able to exploit their strongest suit - spin.

New Zealand, on the other hand, would hope that their pacers would continue to make those game-changing differences even before the batters arrive at the expected run-party.