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Martin Guptill laments pull out from Pakistan, assures New Zealand's readiness for World T20

Mayank Kumar

Opener Martin Guptill has said that New Zealand were looking forward to getting on to the field and prepare for the T20 World Cup before the tour was cancelled minutes before the start of the first ODI between the sides. Calling the pull out a 'disappointing' event for all stakeholders, Guptill expressed hope that Cricket will make a comeback soon into the country. 

"I guess it was disappointing for everyone involved. We were all looking forward to playing some cricket and getting a bit of game-time before the World Cup and that wasn't to be. I know Pakistan are really looking forward to having some cricket back in their home country. We're all hoping that there's going to be cricket there again soon,” Guptill said during a virtual press conference.

Notably, days after New Zealand returned from the tour, Pakistan Pakistan's federal minister for information and broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry had said in a press conference that Guptill’s wife, Laura McGoldrick had received an email threatening to his life in Pakistan. Discussing the threat, Guptill said that he and his wife followed the right process and consulted the 'right people' to deal with the issues. 

"It never is," Guptill said while discussing the threat. "We sent it to the right people to sort of deal with it. Obviously, nothing came of it. It is what it is, and we just had to go through the right channels to get it dealt with properly. Laura [McGoldrick] never actually told me what the email said, so I had no idea what was going on. As I said, we sent it to the proper authorities to get it sorted.”

Guptill was rested from the T20I series against Bangladesh that preceded the tour of Pakistan and hence it was imperative for him to get going with the bat against 'tough opponent' in Pakistan before the global T20 event in UAE and Oman. 

Also, New Zealand are set to open their World T20 campaign with the clash against Pakistan and hence Guptill said that the recent experience would have been handy for the Blackcaps. However, he said that the lack of match practice will not deter them from bringing their A-game from the word go and they will fight hard to win the contest.

"I think like any game against Pakistan, they're a tough opponent and in these conditions, it's going to be pretty tough again. We're going to have to be on our A-game and bring it to them and not take a backward step, just like every other game that we play. It's going to be a tough game, I'm not going to lie, but we're going to prepare well and look forward to that game,” Guptill added.

New Zealand’s hopes of breaking their string of bad luck in the T20 World Cup will rest heavily on the experienced shoulders of Guptill and if he will be able to give them a brisk start with the bat, the Blackcaps middle-order filed with young and explosive batsmen will be confident of doing their job in a perfect fashion.

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