With less than a month remaining for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 to resume, many cricketers have started arriving in UAE, the venue for the remainder of the tournament. Among those who have or will arrive soon in the Asian nation is Kiwi all-rounder Jimmy Neesham, who plays for the defending champions Mumbai Indians.
While Neesham joins the Mumbai Paltan in UAE, New Zealand are touring Bangladesh and later Pakistan for a limited-over series scheduled for this month.
The move by Neesham was not welcomed by many Pakistani cricket fans as they hurled abuses at the all-rounder, claiming that he chose money over national duties. Irked with the negative reactions, the Kiwi all-rounder sent out a tweet responding back to the trolls.
In his tweet, he mentioned that the New Zealand cricket board had not allowed any first-choice team members on the tour.
I’m getting a lot of messages like this so I want to be crystal clear.
It is an NZ Cricket player welfare policy that first choice players aren’t on this tour. I made a request for an exemption but that request was denied. https://t.co/m3CglBWFYF
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) September 1, 2021
If it was only one or two idiots I’d just ignore but I’m literally getting 100 tweets a day about it https://t.co/v0edhGjsxB
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) September 1, 2021
Jimmy Neesham has landed in UAE
The Kiwi all-rounder has reached UAE and after completing his quarantine period he will be joining the rest of the squad.
Neesham became a part of the Mumbai unit after he was purchased for Rs 50 lakhs in the mini-auction held earlier this year. However, with Mumbai being a star studded, Neesham has so featured in just one match out of the seven games the team played in the first phase.
