Martin Guptill was one of the heroes of the 2015 Men’s Cricket World Cup, as he finished as the tournament’s highest run-scorer and played a pivotal role in New Zealand’s journey to the final. Come 2019, the aggressive right-handed opener has found himself in one of the toughest phases as a batsman in his ODI career.
Guptill started his campaign with an unbeaten 51-ball 73 against New Zealand in Cardiff. However, a subsequent dip in form saw him score only 94 runs in his next eight outings, at an average of 11.75. He opened up about his recent struggles. “It’s bloody tough,” Guptill told 1 News in an interview. “You try not to read what people are writing and hear what people are saying, but it’s hard to tear away from it all.
Guptill is currently 24 runs short of completing 1,000 runs in World Cups. His teammate Ross Taylor, who is also on the brink of achieving the milestone, believed that the glorious moments on the field will help Guptill regain his confidence with the bat.
“Cricket’s about small margins. When we came in to the huddle, the boys were joking that Gup always misses the stumps,” Taylor had said after that 18-run win over India. “When there’s a run out on, he always missed the stumps. All those misses over the years, he only hits when there’s nothing to worry about, but he did it now, and we celebrated accordingly and we’re very happy for him.
“Hopefully, that’s a bit of luck that he takes from his fielding to his batting, and maybe he can have a bit of luck and make the most of it.”
