Brendon McCullum shocked the cricketing community by announcing that he would not play the upcoming ICC Cricket World T20 to be played in India. The impact that McCullum had on the Kiwi batting was immense as he always set the tone for them with his rollicking batting and unorthodox shots. But anybody who thought that his absence will mean that New Zealand are ripe for the picking were in for a rude shock.
Kane Williamson
King Kane ruled Test Cricket in 2015 but he is a very natural performer in the shortest form of the game as well. He plays correct cricketing shots and has a great cricketing acumen. There are no ugly slogs or wild hoicks across the line. All grace and technique, he relies on finding the gaps and his gift of timing and placement does the rest.
He has been a Fantastico replacement for the retiring McCullum and proves to be an able foil to Martin Guptill. Kane is also in the middle of a supremely rich vein of form having just made two half centuries against a strong Pakistan bowling line up.
The fact that he can play spin better than most in world cricket today and his ability to judge the situation means that he is the ace trump up the Kiwi sleeve. He is also the captain of the Black Caps side and he will be leading a strong Kiwi team in India.
Impact Rating – 8/10
Martin Guptill
Martin Guptill is an average test match player but when the shorter forms of the game are in question, he instantaneously turns in to a hulk. He smashed the incredible double century against the Windies in the 2015 World Cup and is in supreme form at the moment.
The recent series against the Sri Lankans saw him get the Kiwis off to a flier in almost every single match as he consistently scored with a strike rate of more than 150 runs per 100 balls. He reeled off half centuries in both the games against the Lankans before smashing a 40 odd and 87* against the visiting Pakistani team in T20 internationals.
He has always had a problem with being consistent and often throws his wicket away after a good start but he seems to have finally overcome that shortcoming of his. He might still be susceptible against good spin bowling and might struggle to force the issue when it comes to the slow and low tracks that are expected in India.
Impact Rating – 8/10
The Kiwi openers will pose a huge challenge to any opposition in the world right now and they have the form behind them. The New Zealand team will look for these two to provide starts from where their middle order consisting of Munro, Taylor and Anderson can carry on and flay the opposition in to the ground.
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
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