IPL 2019: Martin Guptill gearing up for the World Cup in SRH nets by facing Rashid Khan

New Zealand veteran Martin Guptill might have missed the first match for his Indian Premier League (IPL) team Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) but he is not sitting idle. The 32-year-old who made a comeback to international cricket recently and hit two back-to-back hundreds against Bangladesh is already into preparing for New Zealand’s game against Afghanistan in the World Cup by playing spinner Rashid Khan at the nets.

Guptill might find it difficult to make it to the SRH’s playing XI as there are quite a few weighty foreign players in the squad. But the opening batsman, who finished as the highest run-getter in the 2015 World Cup with a double century against the Windies, has his eyes set on the mega tournament that follows the IPL. The Kiwi opener hasn’t had an extraordinary IPL career so far as he has mustered 189 runs in 10 matches with one fifty in two seasons.

Talking on his training with Rashid, one of the SRH’s trump cards, Martin Guptill said during a media interaction, “I played with him (Rashid) in CPL (Caribbean Premier League) a couple of years back. He is an amazing bowler. He is very hard to face because he is quick.”

Guptill trying to work out how to play Rashid

“I will be getting into the nets to figure out how to play him because our second game at the World Cup this year is against Afghanistan. Obviously, if I can face him at the nets, maybe I can put some plans in place for the World Cup,” said the 32-year-old, who has played 47 Tests, 169 ODIs and 76 T20 Internationals and scored over 11,000 runs with hundreds in all three formats, according to Business Standard.

Martin Guptill could still get a game for the SRH once English player Jonny Bairstow returns but the cricketer is not eager to look too far ahead. “Cricket is a funny game. I take each net session as it comes and work hard,” he signed off.

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