Ross back-foot play was special: Martin Guptill

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Fighters do keep promises. New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor delivered his word on aggression against the Indian spinners to bring up a fiery ton and most of the other Kiwi batsmen too came out with a touch of daredevilry in the second Test.

Opener Martin Guptill, who too contributed with a handy knock, acknowledged that the plan panned out perfectly for the visitors on Friday. “We always wanted to play positive.

Luckily, the plan worked out today. We got enough number of boundaries early on and that took the load off us,” noted the right-handed batsman.

But it was his captain Taylor, who led the fight from the front, with a characteristic knock, dominated by back-foot play. Fourteen of his 18 boundary shots including two maximums were played off the back-foot.

“Ross showed some excellent footwork. He forced the bowlers to bowl some bad balls. It (Taylor’s style of batting) makes it a lot easier for the batsmen coming later on.

Ross is a class player and some of the shots he played were really special,” said Martin about the skipper’s exemplary knock.

Guptill revealed that the positive intent will continue to be the focal point for New Zealand over the next four days. “If we put 400-450 on the board and attack them, then it’s going to put pressure on India.

There is a bit of swing and seam on this wicket and if we can pick up a few wickets early on, it’ll be great.

The wicket still looks good and we should be able to continue the positive way of play,” stated Guptill with a touch of optimism.

The traditional sweep and the slog sweep were predominantly favoured by the Kiwis against the spinners and Guptill was sure that it was the way to go. “It’s all about execution.

Sometimes you opt to go straight and aerial and may not get it right. It’s quite different for each player. I think they should go for their (natural) shots and then they would do well,” added the Kiwi.