Martin Guptill, who went unsold in the IPL 2016 Player Auction earlier this year, has found a place in the league, after the Mumbai Indians decided to call upon the New Zealander's services. Mumbai Indians named Guptill as a replacement for Lendl Simmons, who has been ruled out of the tournament due to a lower-back injury.
Simmons was MI's best batsman last season. The West Indian amassed 540 runs in 13 matches with a healthy strike-rate of around 122.
Simmons did play the opening game of IPL 2016 for the Mumbai Indians, against the Rising Pune Supergiants, but could score only eight runs.
A similar injury kept him out of the initial stages of the ICC World T20 2016 as well. Simmons joined the West Indies squad later on and helped his side register a victory over an upbeat India in the semifinal of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Guptill is likely to open the batting alongside the Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma. The Kiwi batsman is too good a player to be warming the bench.
The Black Caps opening batsman is just the kind of player that a team needs at the top of the order. He is a clean hitter of the cricket ball and can get his side off to brisk starts. Gutpill has been doing the same for New Zealand and he will look put in similar performances for his side in IPL 2016 as well.
Mumbai Indians pulled off an impressive run chase against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Wednesday, and they will hope Guptill helps them in maintaining the winning momentum.
