“Martin’s obviously a key player for us with the white ball, so to lose him is disappointing”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

New Zealand opener Martin Guptill has been ruled out of the three-match Twenty20 series against Bangladesh after injuring his hamstring.

Guptill was diagnosed with a grade one hamstring strain in his left leg, which he sustained while running between the wickets in the third ODI on Saturday. As a result, he will be out of action for two to four weeks.

Despite the injury, New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson expects the 30-year-old to be fit for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, which starts on January 30 in Auckland. However, prior to that, Guptill will be made to feature in the Ford Trophy, which is New Zealand’s domestic one-day tournament.

“Martin’s obviously a key player for us with the white ball, so to lose him is disappointing,” Hesson said. “We’re confident with some rest, followed by a couple of domestic games, he’ll be ready to play a big role against Australia at the end of January.”

Neil Broom will take Guptill’s place in the Twenty20 squad and is coming off a fantastic showing in the ODI series, in which he averaged 114 after making scores of 22, 109 not out, which was his maiden ODI century, and 97.

“We needed to replace an attacking opening batsman and with Neil’s experience opening in the T20 format and his current form, he was a ready-made replacement,” Hesson said. “Martin also leads our fielding in white-ball cricket and so we’re expecting Neil to be a big contributor in that area as well.”