New Zealand has clinched the three One Day International series 2-0 in a style by winning the second match by 8 wickets in Christchurch on Saturday (16th February), thanks to Martin Guptill who was the chief architect of the hosts’ dominance in the home ODI series.
Guptill has been in the sublime form with the willow in the ongoing three-match ODI series against the Tigers, having cracked 117* and 118 in the two matches to help the Kiwis to win the ODI series 2-0 with the final to be played on 20 February at Logan Park, Dunedin.
With the Christchurch ton, the 32-year-old has equaled Nathan Astle's record of 16 ODI centuries and he is now only behind Ross Taylor, who has 20 to his name in the list who have the most ODI hundreds for New Zealand.
Following his stunning display against the Tigers, the right-hander on Saturday revealed that he has worked on a couple of the things after his poor outing against India that really worked for him.
Guptill told media after Christchurch ODI, “(Today) felt a bit like me of a couple of years ago, which is pleasing to be able to feel that and hopefully, I can just keep pushing on from here. I went away [after the Indian series] and had a look at some footage and found a couple of things to work on and made sure I drilled those in while I was at home and came back and so far, it's working.”
He was delighted to contribute in team’s cause against Bangladesh, saying: “We always thought we might have the upper hand and the way our bowlers have really set the tone up front has really made it tough for Bangladesh to get away with the bat.”
However, New Zealand won the match comfortably and sealed the series at home, but there are still some concerns over their fielding which came under scanner in Christchurch after Taylor dropped two sitters, Todd Astle and Henry Nicholls also missed chances.
Guptill signed off by saying, “No-one ever wants to drop a catch and no-one ever goes out setting out to do that. You have those days sometimes. It was quite gloomy [on Saturday morning] and we'll work on that over the next couple of days.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
