Martin Guptill elegance filled from head to bottom: The unsung hero of New Zealand

New Zealand’s Underdog

Martin Guptill, an enigmatic stroke maker by design, has long served as a pillar of New Zealand’s batting in white-ball cricket. Guptill’s early years were tragically cut short when, at the age of 14, he was involved in a forklift accident that caused him to lose three toes on one foot.

Early Set back In His Life

He overcame that setback, though, and played for New Zealand in the Under-19 World Cup the country hosted.

Different from others

Martin Guptill is one of the few cricketers in the world who can play the short-arm pull on one leg with such grace. Guptill, a right-handed opening batsman, has routinely scored runs in one-day internationals, including a double-century in the 2015 World Cup quarterfinal, but he has struggled to make an impact in tests.

Reason for his failure in Test Cricket

He prefers to play with hard hands and drive on the up, which is one of the reasons he hasn’t been successful in the longest format. Guptill, who hasn’t played a Test match since 2016, hasn’t been the force he could have been in Tests since the red ball tends to move more than the white one and multi-day cricket wickets are more susceptible to swing and seam. Strange for a player who employs some of the cleanest straight-bat strokes.

Record

He started the 2019 World Cup in blistering form and became New Zealand’s fourth player to hit 6000 ODI runs in 2018, although he did not have the same impact as he had in 2015. When Guptill won the overall State Shield run charts in 2007–08, he first came to public attention.

His heroics propelled Auckland to the championship game, and he continued his winning ways at the Emerging Players competition in Australia, where he finished as New Zealand’s top scorer. He was subsequently called up to the ODI and Test squads after being selected for the A-side.

Martin in World Cup Tournaments

Martin Guptill averages 57-odd in World Cup games compared to 43.51 in ODIs. The opener’s ability to score runs against teams with inferior bowling lineups is the only negative.

His opponents have included Australia, South Africa, and England. He will face every team in the World Cup 2019 at least once, so Guptill needs to make sure he scores runs against both the heavyweights and the weaker opposition in the T20 World Cup.