T20 World Cup : New Zealand opener Guptill injured, doubtful for India clash

New Zealand star opener Martin Guptill may be doubtful for the crunch T20 World Cup encounter against Virat Kohli-led India after injuring his toe in their opening loss to Pakistan on Tuesday in Sharjah.

“We’ll see how he scrubs up overnight,” coach Gary Stead told reporters from the United Arab Emirates after the match.

“He looked in a little bit of discomfort at the end of the game and it might take 24 to 48 hours to see how he goes.”

The injury comes as a second blow to New Zealand after paceman Lockie Ferguson was ruled out of the tournament with a calf muscle tear on Tuesday. Stead said he had been disappointed that the International Cricket Council’s Technical Committee had not approved Adam Milne as Ferguson’s replacement in time to play the Pakistan match. “We tried pretty hard today to get across the line with the ICC our replacement player, but it wasn’t to be,” he added.

“That was really disappointing for us because Adam Milne is someone who’s waiting in the wings as a like-for-like replacement. We’ll seek clarification on that decision of theirs.” Stead was happy with how his team had fought against Pakistan, who beat India in their opener, but conceded that the other teams in Group 2 were now battling for second place and the semi-final spot that goes with it.

“You would imagine that Pakistan are now the hot favourites in our group to be the number one seed and the rest of us are fighting it out for the next spot, which makes the India game pretty critical,” he said. “You sometimes have to lose one to find out the important things for you. If we can go and beat India then we certainly put ourselves back on the right track.”