Guptill is not retired, still motivated to play and get better: NZ skipper Williamson

Ahead of his teams first ODI against India New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said on Thursday said that veteran opener Martin Guptill has been an incredible player for their team and he is still motivated to continue playing and improvingIndia will kick off the ODI series against New Zealand with the first ODI at Eden Park Auckland on Friday The Men in Blue have won the rainaffected threematch T20I series 10I had a few chats with him He has been incredible for New Zealand He made the decision to play in other leagues but is still available for New Zealand He is certainly one of our best white ball players It is just trying to strike that balance We have seen that with other players who have looked at some other opportunities It is a moving landscape He has not retired He is still motivated to keep playing and getting better As a player you go through different periods go through different stages It is about managing it said Williamson in a prematch press conferenceNew Zealand Cricket NZC has released veteran opener Martin Guptill from his central contract announced the board on WednesdayThe 36yearold opening batsman has been a fixture in NZ white ball squads for the best part of 14 years but did not play in the recently completed T20 World Cup and was not selected for the current T20 and ODI series against IndiaAlso readMartin Guptill released from central contract by New Zealand CricketHe has represented New Zealand in 47 Tests and has scored 2586 runs at an average of 2938 Three centuries and 17 fifties have come from his bat in this format with the best score of 189In 198 ODIs Guptill has scored 7346 runs at an average of 4173 in 195 innings He has 18 ODI tons and 39 halfcenturies to his name with the best score of 237 Besides this he has also scored 3531 runs in 122 T20IS at an average of 3181 with two tons and 20 fifties and the best score of 105 Following discussions with NZC it was agreed Guptills request for a release should be accepted effective immediatelyNew Zealands leading T20 runscorer the thirdhighest in the ODI format and third on the world alltime T20 list Guptill has emphasised he is not retiring from international cricket and still wishes to be considered for BLACKCAPS selection when availableFor its part NZC has made it clear to him that while he would remain eligible for selection preference would continue to be given to those players with central or domestic contractsOn the upcoming series Williamson said that he would not call it a preparation for the 2023 50over World Cup but the focus is rather on the series in hand and the brand of cricket his side wants to play Williamson said that he still loves playing all formats and changing between them I still have the motivation to keep improving as a player added WilliamsonOn playing ODIs after such a huge amount of T20Is Williamson said that the side needs to reconnect a bit There have not been a huge amount of ODIs it was mostly T20Is with some tests It is about settling down and getting a nice understanding There is a change in the environment These are a few factors But it is about keeping it nice and simple going out and express and himself There is a lot of ODI cricket to come he addedThe ODI leg of the NZ tour will be held from November 2530 New Zealand will return to India for a whiteball series in January next year New Zealand ODI squad Kane Williamson c Finn Allen Michael Bracewell Devon Conway Lockie Ferguson Matt Henry Tom Latham Daryl Mitchell Adam Milne Jimmy Neesham Glenn Phillips Mitchell Santner and Tim SoutheeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever