Guptill aims to tough it out to revive New Zealand

Like most of his team-mates Martin Guptill struggled to make an impression against Australia © Getty Images Enlarge

Martin Guptill believes he can solve New Zealand's top-order woes if he can recall the belief that helped him to a gritty century against Ireland in the warm-up match in Nagpur. Though Guptill did not need to break sweat in the massive drubbing of Kenya in New Zealand's tournament opener, he fell cheaply against Shane Watson as the batting crumbled against Australia having struggled to 10 off 25 balls.

His inability to force the pace encouraged Australia's quick bowlers to cramp him for space with a tight line. It was not just him, though, as his partners forgot to rotate the strike as New Zealand ran only four singles in the first 15 overs. It was an appalling display and New Zealand were rightly thrashed by seven wickets, making the match, a marquee encounter on paper, a no-contest and at the same time conceded the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.

"It is just a matter of me being tough," Guptill said about his own performance. "Just making myself kick on and go deep into the innings. I did it against Ireland so there is no reason I can't do it against other nations. So I am looking to go back to what I did against Ireland and hopefully it works for me."

Guptill, who was New Zealand's best batsman in the recent two-Test series against Pakistan, said that seven-day break between the two matches, will allow New Zealand to start afresh against Zimbabwe on Friday. The captain Daniel Vettori has an ongoing hamstring problem and is one of three players along with Scott Stryis (finger) and Kyle Mills (back) with injury issues but Guptill indicated they will all be fit. "We need to win here. The guys are working towards it. So we want to put up good performances," he said.

Guptill is well aware about Zimbabwe's strengths, one of which is their reliance on their spinners, who have bowled virtually 40 overs in each of the previous contests against Australia and Canada. To combat the dangers of the slow bowlers, Guptill said the batsmen were training against the spin pair of Vettori and Nathan McCullum bowling with the new ball. He also has first-hand experience of facing spin early in an innings after facing R Ashwin during the warm-up match against India although Guptill didn't last long against the offspinner.

Guptill felt there was nothing wrong with his batting, instead it was just a matter of staying strong. He said that John Wright, the coach, and an opener during his playing career, had been a positive influence. "He hasn't done too much technical work with me," he said. "It is just a matter of him saying to believe myself and go out and do it really. I have been doing it reasonably well but I just go to do it for longer periods and that is what I am looking forward to do this week."