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Martin Guptill is finally on his way to the IPL as Mumbai Indians opener Lendl Simmons has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL 2016 due to an injury to his lower back.
Dubbed as the T20 specialist, Guptill was one of the biggest shocks of the IPL auction in February as he was left unsold despite being listed as one of the marquee players at a base price of Rs 50 lakh. The New Zealand opening batsman was the highest run-getter in the 2015 World Cup, scoring 547 runs in nine matches, including a knock of 237 against West Indies in the quarter-final.
He will be joining fellow Black Caps Corey Anderson, Mitchell McClengahan, and Tim Southee at the Mumbai Indians who won last year’s title with the team. He, however, has big shoes to fill as Simmons was Mumbai’s best batsman last season, scoring 540 matches in 13 matches at a strike-rate of 122.41 with six half-centuries.
An excited Guptill even tweeted his excitement on Wednesday as he prepares to embark his India journey.
He also wished Simmons a speedy recovery.
It is reported that Simmons’ injury is similar to the one that forced him to withdraw from the first stage of the World T20 last month and according to Mumbai Indian’s coach Rickey Pointing he will need about 8-10 weeks to recover.
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