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Cricket World Player of the Week - Martin Guptill

by Sandeep Shivam Monday 19 February 2018

Martin Guptill scored a century and two fifties in three T20Is

©REUTERS

For scoring a century and twin half-centuries in the ongoing Twenty20 International Tri-Series, New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill has been named as the Cricket World Player of the Week.

In the fourth T20I against England, Guptill slammed 65 runs off 40 deliveries and was supported by a 72-run knock from Kane Williamson as New Zealand reached 196 in their 20 overs which they went on to defend by 12 runs despite a half-century from Dawid Malan.

In the fifth game of the series against Australia and in a small Auckland ground with a flat pitch, Guptill took a step further slamming his second T20I century and shared a 132 run opening stand with Colin Munro, who himself raced to a 76-run knock as the Black Caps posted 243 runs but it did not prove enough as David Warner and D'Arcy Short responded with blistering half-centuries to chase down the record total.

In the sixth game of the series, fifties from Dawid Malan and unbeaten 80 from Eoin Morgan but fifties from Guptill and Munro proved enough to help the Black Caps reach the final of the tournament despite losing the game by two runs.

India continued their impressive run in South Africa as they went on to record 5-1 series victory in the ODIs and followed it with a victory in the first T20I in Johannesburg.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli slammed centuries in the fifth and sixth ODI respectively while Shikhar Dhawan played a 70-run blitz in the Johannesburg game. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also impressed with a five-wicket haul in the four overs he bowled in the T20I as India overcame Reeza Hendricks' 70 to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Kusal Mendis had an impressive comeback as he scored twin fifties in the two T20I series against Bangladesh which the visitors went on to win 2-0. Mushfiqur Rahim and Soumya Sarkar too scored half-centuries in the first game in Mirpur but they were completely dominated by Dinesh Chandimal's men in the batting department.

Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Zadran picked five-wicket hauls in the third and fourth ODI respectively while Rahmat Shah, Nasir Jamal, Mohammad Shah and Ihsanullah scored half centuries as Afghanistan went on to complete a 3-1 series victory.