Ross Taylor has singled out the lower-order batting as New Zealand's real strength as the Black Caps handed a 97-run defeat to Canada in their World Cup Group A match in Mumbai.

Brendon McCullum scored 101 off 109 balls, while stand-in captain Taylor scored a breezy 74 to set the stage up for a late blitz from Scott Styris (35 off 20 balls), Kane Williamson (34 not out off 27) and Jacob Oram (31no off eight).

The lower-order contributions saw the Kiwi total reach 358 for six after 50 overs as 122 runs were scored in the last 10 overs, with 59 of those coming in the last three.

Taylor, who scored 74 off 44 including five sixes and six fours, thanked his top-order batsmen for providing the platform for the late onslaught.

"Brendon (McCullum) and (Martin) Guptill gave us a good start," Taylor said.

"But our strength is the lower-order hitting, and we try to keep wickets in hand and set ourselves for a go."

The stand-in captain also hailed his bowlers for restricting Canada to 261 for nine despite Kyle Mills leaving the field after bowling just 2.4 overs due to a knee injury .

"The bowlers complemented the batting well," Taylor said.

"We have to wait for a couple of days and check on Kyle Mills. He is a key part of the team."

Canada captain Ashish Bagai admitted the minnows had lost the match by the halfway stage.

"We lost the game in the first half itself," said Bagai, who was the top scorer (84) for the North American team.

"Ross came up with a blistering knock. We also batted well. Hiral Patel batted well considering he was playing his first game. I also got some runs under my belt.

"But those efforts were not enough while chasing such a big total."

Canada seamer Rizwan Cheema was reprimanded by the ICC after the match having been removed from the attack in the final over of the New Zealand innings following two beamers.

He pleaded guilty to a Level 1 offence and received a formal reprimand from match referee Roshan Mahanama.