T20 World Cup | Can draw motivation from my performance for New Zealand in 2016 edition, says Martin Guptill
Martin Guptill has said that he is looking forward to making sure to having a very positive approach going into the fixture against Pakistan on Tuesday. He also added that he will be looking forward to draw on some experience from the 2016 T20 World Cup where he was New Zealand’s top run-scorer.
New Zealand will play their opening fixture of the T20 World Cup 2021 against Pakistan on October 26. With an aggressive brand of cricket, Martin Guptill will open for the Kiwis and play a crucial role for them in the tournament.
Guptill has scored 2,939 runs in 102 T20Is with an average of 32.29. He has struggled a bit in Asia and specifically in the UAE. Guptill has scored 442 runs in 23 T20Is held in Asia with an average of 20.09. In UAE he has played 3 T20Is scoring just 57 runs from them with an average of 19. Talking about his palns for the T20 World Cup 2021, Guptill has said that he can draw some inspiration from the 2016 edition of the tournament where he was team’s top-scorer with 140 runs at an average of 35 and strike rate of 157.30.
"Obviously I'd have liked to have gone better [in the UAE], but you know that's all in the past now. In the last World Cup, I think I was our top run-scorer in the T20 World Cup. I can draw some on that experience and that confidence that I've been able to do that before. So, I'm just looking forward to going out and doing my thing and just making sure I'm as positive as I can be at the top of the order,” he stated.
The Kiwi cricketer will play a vital role in giving his team some good starts. He has played some good knocks in the warm-up matches. Guptill scored 30 off 20 balls against Australia and 41 off 20 balls against England. Sharing his views about warm-up fixtures, Guptill said that he is satisfied with his own performance.
"I feel not too bad to be honest. Nice to spend a little bit of time in the middle although I faced only 20 balls in each of the three games (including the unofficial warm-up against Netherlands). So, it will be nice to push on through that, but at the end of the day my role is to get the team off to a good start and I feel I did it in those three games," he remarked.
New Zealand are grouped together with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia. Out of these, New Zealand has never played against Namibia and Afghanistan in T20Is. Also, they last played against Scotland in the 2009 T20 World Cup. Speaking about the teams in the Group 2 of Super 12s, Guptill said that it is going to be a tough pool.
"Yes, it's not going to be easy. There are a couple of teams there we haven't played before and we haven't played Scotland in a long time. So, we've got to sit down a bit at meetings and go through the footage and watch those teams. Obviously, Afghanistan have got some match-winners in their line-up as well. So, it's going to be a tough pool, but also a great challenge for us as well. You know we're really looking forward to get stuck in and getting into the tournament,” he opined.
The players are following strict guidelines living in bio bubbles. Speaking on the way how the team is coping up with the bubble life, Guptill said that the players are engaging themselves in various activities.
"I can tell you we've got some pretty heated table tennis going on and I'm a way down the board, but I can still hear it. It can go up to sort of midnight-1am at certain times, but we're obviously exposed to foosball tables and dartboards that have turned up in the last couple of days as well. The boys are keeping their minds fresh and getting amongst each other and there's some coffee drinks going around as well. So, we're keeping fresh, not thinking about cricket too much. But now that cricket is on, the boys are getting stuck in and watching that as well. I had about five-six guys in my room yesterday (Saturday) for about half an hour or so watching the Australia- South Africa. So, [it's] nice to have a few guys around so we're not sitting by ourselves,” he concluded.
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