http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Guptill-c1980 credits NZ’s strong start to “positive intent” – Cricket News Update
New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill has claimed that the team’s strong start on Day 1 of their second Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, played on August 31 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, owes everything to the team’s positive approach to the game.
“We had a meeting on how to go about it and about the positive intent we have to approach. We executed our plans really well today,” said Guptill.
“We got enough number of boundaries early on in the innings and that took a load off us. The wicket was a little flat and that positive intent I spoke of helped us a lot today,” he added.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hyderabad-c792 (Deccan) from August 23 to 26, losing by an innings and 115 runs. The loss owed largely to the failure of the Kiwi batting order, which registered paltry totals of 159 and 164
during the match.
However, they made a major comeback during the second Test, after winning the toss and electing to bat. Guptill opened for the side and chipped in with a 53 to keep the side going despite Brendon McCullum’s early dismissal on duck.
India’s bowling attack made valiant attempts to restrict the visitors to a low score, but the efforts of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Z-Khan-c98379 did not
do much to dampen the spirit of the Black Caps’ batsmen.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kruger-van-Wyk-c1811 (who reached 71 from 63* on Day 2) chipped in with useful contributions – however, the driving force behind the innings was skipper Ross Taylor’s massive 113, which
played a large part in enabling the team to eventually post a first innings total of 365 on Day 2.
Guptill also went on to observe that the swing and seam on the surface could enable New Zealand to continue their dominant streak well into their bowling performance, if they managed to pick up early wickets to keep the pressure on their opponents.
“There is a bit of swing and seam on this wicket and if we can pick up a few wickets early on, it'll be great,” he said.
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