The New Zealand batsman, Martin Guptill is confident of the team’s success in the remaining two games of the ODI series. Although the Kiwi opener hasn’t been in his best form recently, he wishes to keep adding his contributions and be a part of the team for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 that is scheduled to be held in India.
On Wednesday (5th February), New Zealand registered the first win in the last six limited-overs games during the ongoing India tour of New Zealand for the month-long cricket schedule. The Black Caps chased down the target set by Virat Kohli & Co. in the first ODI by four wickets.
The hosts set the right pace for their innings in the first game of the series. After the Men in Blue had set the chase target of 347 runs, the two Kiwi openers – Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls, started the second innings. Guptill went out for 32 runs off 41 balls.
After Guptill-Nicholls’ 85-runs partnership, Ross Taylor’s bristling century and Tom Latham’s superb fifty led New Zealand to take the 1-0 lead in this series.
However, the Kiwi opener wants to take a positive attitude from the series opener to the remaining two games.
“We want to be as positive as possible. Once we get out there tomorrow, we will see how we go. If being positive means you losing two wickets early, so be it. My role does not change in the team, my role is to provide the team a quick start,” Guptill told reporters on Friday.
Martin Guptill hopeful of playing the World Cup 2023 in India
Addressing the Indian spinners, Guptill further said that it was easier for the team to face the Indian spinners and it became easier for them to attack as it didn’t spin much. The opener said that the team would carry the same confidence in the remaining two games against India in this ODI series.
“It is a completely different situation. You can be a little more attacking here as the ball is not going to spin much. We can take confidence in how we played the spinners from the first match,” Guptill said.
Furthermore, the 33-years-old cricketer was happy for his team to restrict Jasprit Bumrah from taking early wickets.
“You definitely get used to him with time, he has a unique action. We played him (Bumrah) well in the first match. We negated him from taking early wickets,” he added.
However, even after not being in good shape in the last few games, Martin Guptill hopes to keep performing till the next World Cup that is scheduled to be conducted in India in 2023.
“Absolutely,” he said when asked, adding: “Pending body issues and form and things like that, hopefully, I can stick around and put enough numbers on the board to be in that squad.”
In the meantime, the two teams will have the next game at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday, 8th February. It is the same ground where the first two T20Is were held during the ongoing India tour of New Zealand. With the ground having short dimensions, it will be easy for the teams to put forth big scores.