There was a little bit of lost confidence: Guptill

Chennai, Feb 18 (PTI) New Zealand opener Martin Guptilltoday admitted that the team''s confidence has taken a hitfollowing the thrashing it received from India in Wednesday''swarm-up game but expressed hopes of a comeback before theirWorld Cup opener against Kenya.

"There was a little bit of lost confidence. I am sure wecan bounce back from there, get the confidence back. We needto put a good performance. We need to work as a unit. The guysare going to come out for training today. We are lookingforward to the first game," Guptill said.

In pursuit of India''s mammoth total, Guptill got theBlack Caps off to a decent start scoring 38, before the teamcrumbled under pressure.

Though Kenya are not one of the top dogs in internationalcricket, Guptill said the team was not them lightly.

"We don''t know a lot of them. We are going to get somefootage of them and see how they had gone in the practicegames. We are not taking them lightly. We are not complacent.

They are going to be a challenge," he said.

"They are going to be determined to put up some goodperformances against Test playing nations. They are going tocome up very determined and very hard against us," Guptill,who scored a fluent 130 against Ireland in their warm-up tiein Nagpur, said.

Guptill said the players are still getting used to thewicket here.

"It''s a big challenge over here. The other night itturned a lot and bounced which we are not used to, coming fromNew Zealand. We got to come up with a game plan. Get offswiftly and keep rotating the strike. If we do that we aregoing to be successful."

He said it was still a learning process for the NewZealand players as far as tackling spinners was concerned.

"We have always struggled a bit. We have to keep learningto be able to play spin as it turns and bounces. It''s a bigthing for us. Everyone is geared for the first match."

Questioned about his own form, Guptill said he wasfeeling good with the bat and wanted to keep the confidencegoing.

Asked if the team has got enough back-up in the spindepartment to support Vettori, he said the Kiwi captain was aworld class bowler and he would be supported by NathanMcCullum and Luke Woodcock.

"Nathan McCullum has done a very good job for us in shorttime with the team. Nathan is improving with every game heplays. The other night (against India) he got a bit wayward.

That''s how cricket goes.

"He (Nathan) is going to bounce back hard. And we gotLuke Woodcock as well. On his debut match back home he bowledreally well against Pakistan with an economy rate of four anover. He had a very good start to his career. We have gotconfidence in him that he can come if Dan (Vettori) goes downat all, he can come and take Dan''s place."

Asked about Vettori''s participation in the first game, hesaid, "Not that I am aware of. Not too sure." PTI VS RE AH