Martin Guptill ruled out of the beginning of IPL 2017

New Zealand opening batsman Martin Guptill expressed his discomfort in both hamstrings and therefore has been sidelined from any cricketing action for six weeks. The cricketer who has just entered his 30’s will miss the beginning of the Indian Premier League because he will be part of a “six week-long strength and conditioning rehabilitation programme”.

Guptill will don the Kings XI Punjab jersey in the 10^th edition of the Indian premier League as he was purchased by the Mohali based franchise for 50 lakh during the auction.

Guptill who has  143 One Day Internationals and 47 Test matches under his belt missed the first three ODI’s in the South Africa series that ended recently. The right handed batsman came back with a bang and shattered the South Africans in the 4^th ODI as he scored an unbeaten 180. It was after the 5^th match of the series that Guptill complained about the soreness in his hamstrings.

Inspite of being injured, Martin will travel to india where he will be under the inspection of New Zealand physio Tommy Simsek.

“At the moment Martin isn’t fit to play and the time we give him now to strengthen his hamstrings will play a big role in mitigating future risk too,” Simsek said. “We’ve put a programme in place to make sure that Martin can return to full strength and we’ll continue to monitor him closely.”

Mike Hesson, the head coach of New Zealand has made his intentions clear. The New Zealand management will be focusing on bringing Guptill back to total fitness before the Champions Trophy in June.”Having Martin fully fit is critical, as we all know the positive influence he has on our side. Martin knows this is an important period to get back to 100% so that he can be fully confident when he is on the park. The Champions trophy isn’t far away and we obviously want Martin firing on all cylinders for that tournament.”

Martin Guptill was also the first choice to replace Ross Taylor in the New Zealand Test squad after Taylor had to be carried off the field for a probable calf injury. But quite unfortunately Guptill will be unable to fit into the position due to his own injury issues. Taylor will be subjected to scans on Tuesday and Guptill’s absence will open the door for Dean Brownlie and Neil Broom for the 4^th spot in the Test side.