Injured Martin Guptill doubtful for India game

New Zealand might be without Martin Guptill in their all-important encounter against India on Sunday after the right-handed opener injured his toe in their T20 World Cup opener against Pakistan on Tuesday (October 26). The Black Caps put up a good fight but still suffered a five-wicket defeat at Sharjah.

Guptill, who scored 17 off 20 deliveries, got hit on his toe by a Haris Rauf delivery just before he was knocked over by the paceman in the final over of the powerplay. 

"We'll see how he scrubs up overnight. He looked in a little bit of discomfort at the end of the game and it might take 24 to 48 hours to see how he goes," said head coach Gary Stead.

New Zealand have also lost the services of their ace paceman Lockie Ferguson who was ruled out of the tournament with a calf muscle tear on Tuesday. 

Stead wasn't pleased with the International Cricket Council's Technical Committee as they didn't approve Adam Milne as Ferguson's replacement in time to be available for the Pakistan game.

"We tried pretty hard today to get across the line with the ICC our replacement player, but it wasn't to be," he added.

"That was really disappointing for us because Adam Milne is someone who's waiting in the wings as a like-for-like replacement. We'll seek clarification on that decision of theirs."

Stead said Pakistan are now hot favourites to qualify for the knockouts, while the other five teams will have to fight it out for that one remaining spot. 

"You would imagine that Pakistan are now the hot favourites in our group to be the number one seed and the rest of us are fighting it out for the next spot, which makes the India game pretty critical," he said.

"You sometimes have to lose one to find out the important things for you. If we can go and beat India then we certainly put ourselves back on the right track."