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Black Caps hail Guptill's 'game-changing' run out to end India's comeback hopes

July 11, 2019

Guptill's pinpoint throw to dismiss MS Dhoni was the moment many of his teammates started to believe they had the win secured.

India needed 25 runs from 10 balls to beat the Black Caps - a difficult task for anyone but if there was one man the Blue Army would want at the crease it was MS Dhoni.

The 38-year-old wicketkeeper anchored his team's comeback attempt late in the match with a half-century and was beginning to swing freely with time running out.

The Black Caps bowlers couldn't find a crack in Dhoni's armour either as he soaked up pressure while finding his shots but there was one arm he didn't take into account while attempting to lead India to glory - Martin Guptill's.

Dhoni knocked the ball legside and with no one in the area, immediately called for two runs. 

But Guptill swooped in to grab the ball and came up firing, working with the slenderest of margins as he aimed at the stumps from side on.

But the throw was perfect and Dhoni, returning for that second run he'd called, was dismissed by a matter of inches.

The run out, for many of Guptill's teammates, was the moment they started to believe they were headed to Lords for the World Cup final.

"Martin Guptill's runout, I think that was the moment we realised we had a really good chance," Matt Henry told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning.

"There was only a few more balls left so yeah, to see the back of that, it was probably the moment."

Mitchell Santner agreed.

"It was a game-changer, wasn't it?" Santer said.

"To do something like that at that stage was pretty special and that put us over the line."

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