New Delhi:
Riding on the crest of Martin Guptill’s unbeaten 237, New Zealand again sailed through to the semi finals beating jittery West Indies comprehensively in the fourth quarter finals at Wellington. In the process, Guptill surpassed Sachin Tendulkar, Chris Gayle and Virender Sehwag to bludgeon his way to the record books, becoming the highest individual scorer in World Cup.
The stylish right hander also became the first New Zealander and fifth batsman to notch up double ton in ODIs. Guptill joined the club of three Indians and a West Indian, who have achieved the feat earlier.
Electing to bat first, Black Caps notched a mammoth 393 in the allotted 50 overs, then cleaned up the Caribbean side for 250 runs in just 30.3 overs. The Black Caps have set up clash with might Proteas at Auckland on coming Tuesday. This was also the heaviest defeat suffered by any team in terms of run in knockout stages.
Guptill scored his 237 of just 163 balls comprising of 24 boundaries and 11 sixes. He smacked Andre Russell to reach the mark at Wellington. Earlier, Guptill was dropped of Jerome Taylor on 4, which cost the match. After Guptill’s reprieve, he anchored the innings with the others players around him.
West Indies had a disastrous start lost Charles in the second over. West Indies batsman tried to match up the daunting run rate but lost wickets at regular intervals. Chris Gayle showed some resistance but was outplayed by Adam Milne. Trent Boult shattered the top order with his pace and bounce to claimed four wickets.
Skipper Jason Holder, all-rounder Russell and Sammy tried to salvage some pride in towards the end but the score was too huge for them to catch up.
Now with just four teams India, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in the fray, the World Cup is heading towards to a tense finish.
