IPL 2021: “Felt like I was debuting again” – James Neesham on fantastic return to MI playing XI

Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder James Neesham revealed that he felt like he was debuting for the franchise all over again on Tuesday. He said this after making a comeback to the playing XI against Rajasthan Royals (RR).

Neesham made his debut for MI in the first half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. He played his first match in May in a high-scoring thriller against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He had a forgettable match as he conceded 26 runs in his two overs and went wicketless. With the bat, he was out for a golden duck.

After a long gap, Neesham got a chance to play his second match for MI against RR on Tuesday in Sharjah. He made the most of it, returning with excellent figures of three wickets for 12.

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Reflecting on his amazing effort, Neesham said he was happy to contribute with MI in a must-win situation.

“The tournament has been kind of weird. I felt like I was debuting again after having that break in the middle of the tournament. But coming out and putting up a performance like that on the board when we needed to win was pretty pleasing,” Neesham told Nathan Coulter-Nile in an interaction posted on IPLT20.COM.

Coulter-Nile was man of the match for his exceptional figures of 14/4 as MI cruised to an eight-wicket win over RR after restricting them to 90/9.

“We hit the right areas and bowled really well” – Nathan Coulter-Nile credits entire MI bowling unit

While Coulter-Nile was the standout bowler against RR, he put down MI’s emphatic win to a complete team effort. According to him, all the bowlers showed the discipline that was required on the surface. The Aussie cricketer said:

“Everyone bowled pretty well. Obviously that kind of wicket is conducive to quick bowling. Not great cricket but we were lucky we got a few wickets. We hit the right areas and we all bowled really well. So it was just another good team performance from Mumbai.”

Despite their triumph against the RR, MI face an uphill task to qualify for the playoffs. They will need to put up another dominating performance in their last league game and hope for other results to go their way. Looking forward to the challenge, Coulter-Nile opined:

“It’s just another game of cricket. You have to try and win every game. When we came out here, the boys had the chance to show their skills and were lucky enough to get on the other end. We have to do it again next game. So, hopefully the other results fall our way and we get through.”

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MI’s last league clash will be against bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Abu Dhabi on October 8.