New Zealand star player Martin Guptill is a doubt for the fifth and final One-Day International against India in Wellington after aggravating his lower back while fielding practice on Saturday. As Guptill struggled to overcome the pain, he was assessed by team physio Vijay Vallabh and was taken off the ground by the support staff.
The 32-year-old will be reassessed on Sunday morning before the final game. As a result, Colin Munro, will rejoin the ODI squad If Guptill sits out at Wellington.
Both Guptill and his back up Munro have struggled for form and haven’t been able to perform with the bat. In the three played by Munro, he has scored 7, 31 and 8, while Guptill has aggregated just 47 runs in four innings thus far.
New Zealand have already lost the five-match ODI rubber against India, but pacer Trent Boult’s (5/21 ) carnage with the ball guided New Zealand to get an eight wicket win against India in the fourth One Day International. Undoubtedly, this victory will prove to be a good morale booster for the Kiwis and might help New Zealand in the preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup.
In one of the worst batting performances in 50-overs format in recent times, India was bundled out for just 92. It took just 14.4 overs for New Zealand to chase down the target. After the game concluded, the visitors faced their biggest ever loss in terms of balls to spare with 212 balls remaining.