Martin Guptill's epic battle through two cricket series with a broken toe

Black Caps opening hitter Martin Guptill has announced that he has played most of the Twenty20 World Cup and T20 Series against India with a suspected broken toe - minus three toes on one foot. Guptill was hit flush on the big toe of his left foot by a scorching delivery from Pakistani Haris Rauf just five overs in the World Cup.

Guptill, who lost three toes on that foot to amputation after an accident with a forklift at the age of 13, said the rowdy Yorker was injured in the opening game of the Black Caps of the tournament on October 26th.

"I tried to get on the field in that game, I think I survived six or seven overs and couldn't walk - it was just too sore."

Despite the pain, the prelude played the remaining nine games up to the final and the three-game series against India practically on one leg. It's the foot that is already three toes missing from an accident in his youth, so essentially he only has one decent toe for balance.

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"I tried it out in training to see how it felt and managed to get through that well. Then when I got out in the middle I was confident I would get through," said Guptill. Black Caps coach Gary Stead said Guptill needed help to make this happen. "We had to get a couple of injections just to relieve the pain for him," said Stead.

"It was a great effort on his part to get through this." Guptill had an injection before each game in the tournament, averaging 30 runs at the top of the sequence. He was also a standout for New Zealand in whitewashing India and was a leader at the top for two half centuries.

"I try to give my all for the Black Caps every time I go out and nothing would change for these three games," said Guptill of the series. Guptill said he would use his time at MIQ to rest his foot before attempting to return with Auckland in the upcoming Kiwi Summer Super Smash competition.