Martin Guptill

Few players in world cricket play the short-arm pull on one leg with elegance like Martin Guptill. A right-handed opening batsman, Guptill has consistently been among the runs in ODIs notably making a double-century in the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup, but has struggled to make a mark in Tests.

One of the reasons he hasn't had success in the longest format is his preference to play with hard hands and drive on the up. With the red ball's tendency to move more than the white one, and pitches for multi-day cricket being more responsive to swing and seam, Guptill has not been the force he could have been in Tests and has not played a Test match since 2016. Fairly odd for a man who plays some of the most pristine straight-bat shots.

Guptill showed he had it in him to dominate all formats, winning the Richard Hadlee Medal in 2011-12 along with being named ODI and T20 player of the year at the New Zealand Cricket awards. He claimed the latter two back in 2015-16 thanks in no small part to the 237 not out he made against West Indies in Wellington during the 2015 World Cup, the second-highest ODI score of all time. He was also the tournament's leading scorer with 547 runs, just ahead of two all-time greats in Kumar Sangakkara and AB de Villiers.

In 2018, he become New Zealand's fourth player to reach 6000 ODI runs and entered the 2019 World Cup in red-hot form but failed to have the impact he did in 2015. Despite his struggles, New Zealand entrusted him with batting in the Super Over in the thrilling final against England. The only ball he faced was the last, with two runs to win, he was run out agonisingly short of the winning second run that would have handed New Zealand the World Cup.

The first time Guptill gained recognition was in 2007-08, topping the overall State Shield run-charts. His efforts took Auckland to the final, and he carried his purple patch into the Emerging Players tournament in Australia, finishing as New Zealand's highest scorer. That earned him a call-up to the A side and then to the ODI and Test squads.

His growth as a player on the world stage was highlighted by the contracts given to him by Derbyshire and Lancashire in the English county, Sydney Thunder in the Australian Big Bash League, Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Guyana Amazon Warriors, who made him captain for the 2016 edition of the Caribbean Premier League.
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