New Zealand's experienced batsman Martin Guptill has returned to his form with the bat, as the opener played a blistering innings to take the Black Caps to a nail-biting 4-win over Australia in the second T20I at University Oval in Dunedin, on Thursday (February 25).
In a high-scoring affair against Australia, Martil cracked a fabulous knock of 97 runs off just 50 balls at a strike rate of 195, hitting 6 fours and 8 sixes to help New Zealand post mammoth 219/ 7 in Dunedin.
In reply, Australia fell for just 4 runs on Thursday, as the Black Caps took a 2-0 lead in the ongoing five-match T20I series with the third scheduled on March 3 in Wellington.
During his blistering knock, Martin achieved a milestone in the shorter format of the game, as the right-hander went past India’s Rohit Sharma to become the leading six-hitter in T20 international cricket.
The 34-year-old’s tally of sixes in T20 internationals stands at 132 in 96 T20s at the moment while Indian opener Rohit has so far cracked 127 sixes to in 108 T20I games. England captain Eoin Morgan is third on the list with 113 sixes to his name in 97 matches.
New Zealand’s Colin Munro (107) and West Indian hard-hitter Chris Gayle (105) are in the fourth and fifth place in the list to complete the top-five six hitters in the T20I cricket in the world.
Noteworthy, Martin was struggling to return to his form in the format as he had gone 12 innings without hitting a half-century but has made a comeback in time with the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in line to be played in India in October-November.
(With ANI Inputs)
