Picture Credit: Instagram/@mumbaiindians
The man of the moment James Neesham is having a good few hours to remember. Not only did the Mumbai Indians all-rounder get to play his first match in the UAE leg of IPL 2021 but he made an impact straight away in the match against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday. Coming to bowl in the middle-overs, Neesham conceded just 12 runs in his quota of 4 overs and scalped 3 wickets which helped the Rohit Sharma-led side restrict the opposition to below par 90/9.
Later, the Mumbai batters made easy work of the total and chased it down with 70 balls to spare. However, Neesham's splendid day out seemingly did not come to an end as he continued his great performance in the team hotel. This time around though the sport was not cricket but basketball.
In a video that is now trending on social media, Neesham could be seen netting a basket from a distance of 30 yards - in an attempt that would make even the best of basketball stars envy. So superb was Neesham's shot at the basket that Ishan Kishan could not help but shout out loud in joy and excitement.
"These are the kind of things you tell your friends and they be like: ??? ????? ??? ???! ?But we got proof on camera #OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #KhelTakaTak #IPL2021 @jimmyneesham @mxtakatak MI TV," the video shared by the Mumbai Indians was captioned.
Check it out here:
Talking about the match between MI and RR, Mumbai Indians had made two changes to their XI and both of them worked out quite brilliantly for them in the end. While they had replaced Quinton de Kock with James Neesham, Krunal Pandya had made way for Ishan Kishan.
Both of them had a significant contribution to MI's win on Tuesday as apart from Neesham's 3/12, Kishan's 50* from 25 would be a huge confidence booster not only for the youngster himself but even the side. Although Kishan was the star performer for the defending champions in their near perfect season in 2020, he was having a horror run this year until this innings which came at the top of the order.
MI would hope that Kishan could continue this form in the next match and even in the Playoffs, if they were to qualify.