Martin Guptill, New Zealand.
Martin Guptill, New Zealand. (Photo: Twitter)

New Zealand’s opening batter Martin Guptill has revealed losing an enormous amount of weight after his lengthy knock in his team’s latest win over Scotland on Wednesday, November 3 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021.

New Zealand and Scotland had clashed in Dubai in a day match with the BlackCaps being asked to bat first as Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer won the toss. Martin Guptill was the flavor of the Kiwi innings as he made a brilliant 93 in just 56 balls with 6 fours and 7 sixes to his name at an economy of 166.07.

Thanks to him and Glenn Phillips’ 33, New Zealand was able to put on 172/5 in 20 overs despite losing Kane Williamson for a duck and Devon Conway for 1 run. For Scotland, Brad Wheal and Safyaan Sharif picked two wickets apiece.

Martin Guptill, New Zealand.
Martin Guptill, New Zealand. (Photo: Twitter)

In reply, despite Michael Leask’s 42* and other contributions from Scotland batters, the team fell short by 16 runs, finishing on 156/5 in 20 overs. For New Zealand, Trent Boult with 2/29 and Ish Sodhi with 2/42 was the best pick of the bowlers as the Kiwis inched one step closer to semi-finals qualification.

The Hydration Process Was Started Quickly When I Came Into The Pavilion: Martin Guptill

Guptill’s knock was not only an amazing one but also a draining one as it was played under the blazing desert sun in Dubai.  He played until the penultimate over guiding the New Zealand team to an impressive total.

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However, he revealed to TVNZ’s Breakfast hours after the match that he has lost quite a bit of weight after spending the better part of the almost 2 hours long innings under the Dubai heat.

Martin Guptill, New Zealand.
Martin Guptill, New Zealand. (Photo: Twitter)

He said: “When I came off the field after batting, I’d lost about 4.4 kilos so the [hydration] process had to start pretty quickly after that.”

Guptill and Phillips had added 105 runs for the fourth wicket that steadied the ship for the Kiwis. The right-handed opener talked about how he and Phillips have done well together even in domestic cricket.

“I’m getting there slowly; I was pretty cooked but we have a day off so I won’t be doing too much there. We didn’t have a great start, losing three wickets in the powerplay, it wasn’t quite a rescue mission but Glenn and I had to assess the situation and then put a partnership together.”

Martin Guptill and Glenn Phillips. Photo- AP
Martin Guptill and Glenn Phillips. Photo- AP

“I’ve played a lot of cricket with Glenn, we know how each other bat, we’ve put on some good partnerships for Auckland back home, so it was easy to get a partnership going together with him,” Guptill said.

New Zealand are currently placed third in the table in Group 2 with four points and a net run rate of 0.816. They have two matches left against Afghanistan and Namibia respectively and winning them both will put them into the semi-finals.

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