New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen backed Martin Guptill to do the job against Australia.
New Zealand has made a surprising pick as they named an injured Martin Guptill in the squad for the upcoming five T20Is against Australia while keeping the upcoming domestic star Finn Allen on standby.
The Kiwis will host Australia for 5 T20Is from February 22 to March 7 in one of the most important T20I series for them before the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in India later this year.
The home side announced their squad on Sunday, February 14, and named Martin Guptill in the side despite the world-class opener suffering from an injury. His place in the final squad is on the line though as he is yet to clear a fitness test.
NZ v AUS 2021: Aaron Finch confirms Josh Philippe’s Australia T20I debut against New Zealand
If the 34-year-old fails to pass the fitness test, he will be replaced by the latest domestic star in New Zealand cricket, Finn Allen. Guptill and Allen had contrasting averages in the recently concluded domestic tournament at home with the former scoring at 11.5 as compared to the 21-year-old Allen's average of 56.80.
New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen said, "Martin's our incumbent opener and our highest T20 International run-scorer so we're backing him to do the job at the top of the order, but he will need to prove his fitness and it's good to know we have a ready replacement in Finn on stand-by."
"Finn's been in outstanding form and he's certainly an exciting talent," he added.
New Zealand squad against Australia:
Kane Williamson (C), Hamish Bennett, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.
(With inputs from AFP)