OTD | New Zealand’s star opener Martin Guptill was born in 1986 

New Zealand star batter Martin Guptill turns a year older on 30th September. The former batter was one of the most feared batters during his career which spanned for 13 long years. Martin Guptill was 13 years old when he lost his three toes due to an accident. Despite this, the Kiwi went on to play many match-winning innings for his side. 

Young Guptill, made his first foray into cricket in a first-class game for Auckland against Wellington. The right-handed batter scored 0 in his first innings before falling for 99 runs in his 2nd innings after facing 272 balls. Just a few weeks earlier the young batter had made his List A and T20 debut for his Auckland side. 

In his List A appearance, the youngster was the 2nd highest scorer with 28 as Auckland were all out for 100. In the T20I format, he scored 29 runs off 29 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes as Auckland beat Northern Districts by 9 wickets. 

Martin Guptill: New Zealand’s fiery opening star

After nearly 3 years in the domestic circuit, Martin Guptill finally made his international debut. His first match was in the ODI format in front of his home fans in Auckland. The young batter scored a century on debut as he smashed 122 off 135 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes. The game sadly was washed out due to rain but Guptill had made his mark. 

Martin Guptill had a terrible start in the T20 format as he was out for a duck as New Zealand lost by 1 run to Australia. The Test debut came a few weeks later against India in Hamilton as Martin Guptill scored 14 in the first innings and 48 in the second innings. 

The right-handed batter is also one of the few batters to score a century in each format of the game. His score of 237 during the ODI World Cup 2015 against West Indies is the best score by a Kiwi. It is also the 2nd highest individual score by a batter in the fifty-over format behind the 264 runs scored by Rohit Sharma. 

Martin Guptill called time on his career in 2023 after a glittering career. The right-handed batter played 47 Test matches and scored 2586 with a best of 189 which was one of his 3 centuries along with 17 fifties. Guptill also played 198 ODI matches and scored 7346 runs with 18 centuries and 39 fifties. In 122 T20I matches, Guptill scored 3531 runs with 2 centuries and 20 half-centuries with a strike rate of 135.7. 

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