David Warner vs Martin Guptill: Contrasting personalities with similar objectives

The cricket world has braced itself as the Trans-Tasman rivals prepare to take center stage in the grand-finale of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. As the world engages in discussion of the two sides, Rishad D’Souza takes the opportunity to compare David Warner and Martin Guptill – players who occupy the crucial opening spots in their respective sides.

The Australia – New Zealand clash in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is being widely discussed. Both sides were tipped as favourites heading into the grand tournament, and they have both done justice to the tags. It is difficult to pick a favourite between the two sides for the final. When the sides take on each other, eyes will naturally land on the openers. David Warner and Martin Guptill form one half of their respective teams opening pairs. PREVIEW: Australia (AUS) vs New Zealand (NZ) ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 FINAL

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Warner embodies the typical Aussie spirit in his style of play. He is aggressive, always willing to push hard and yet measured in his approach. Guptill on the other hand is not as aggressive; he plays under the shadows of fellow-opener Brendon McCullum early on but possesses the ability to creep up on the opposition slowly to snatch the game away. SCORECARD: ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Final Australia (AUS) vs New Zealand (NZ) at Melbourne

Both batsmen are 28-years old and come from countries with similar sporting cultures. Individually however, there are vast differences in their styles of play. Warner is a man of action. He deals in boundaries and doesn’t wait to attempt imposing himself even in the most bowler friendly conditions. When he’s out in the middle there’s always something highlight-worthy round the corner. Either he’ll make bowlers look like practice machines by taking them for a lot of runs or he’ll nick one and get out. STATS PREVIEW: Australia (AUS) vs New Zealand (NZ) ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 FINAL

Guptill allows his aggressive partners to steal limelight initially. Sometimes when McCullum is making bowlers look like hapless school boys, Guptill becomes inconspicuous. But once the McCullum storm is over, Guptill starts working his magic. The percentage of fours gradually sees a rise and soon the sixes start punctuating his innings too. His strike-rate through the course of an innings if mapped on a graph sheet will invariably be a gentle upward slope. New Zealand fans expected to flock MCG in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 final

The batsmen are blessed with varying skill sets but both share the ultimate goal of piling heaps of runs and have attained similar levels of success in One-Day international (ODI) cricket overall. Warner in has an average of 34.51 and a strike-rate of 89.41. Guptill, on the other hand, has an average of 40 at a lesser strike-rate of 83. New Zealand train hard ahead of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 final

As far as the tournament is concerned Guptill has a lot more runs than Warner; thanks to his mammoth unbeaten 237 against West Indies.  Guptill has amassed a total of 532 runs in his eight innings and is only nine short of the Kumar Sangakkara’s tally as the highest run-getter in the tournament.  Warner, with one less innings as compared to Guptill, has scored a decent 300 runs. READ: Glenn Maxwell vs Brendon McCullum

Overall the statistics may exalt Guptill but one must bear in mind that Warner has blossomed lately and is abundant in confidence and that will play a major role in the final of the World Cup. It will be interesting to see which of the two prove more decisive to their teams chances on the day it matters.  READ: Why ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 final would be the most emotional contest

(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RishadDsouza on Twitter)