“Didn’t expect it to get called off” – Jimmy Neesham speaks on the suspension of IPL 2021


“Didn’t expect it to get called off” – Jimmy Neesham speaks on the suspension of IPL 2021

Jimmy Neesham

The Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) was suspended indefinitely after COVID-19 cases breached the teams’ bio-bubbles and led to more than 5 positive tests among personnel in the bubbles. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which had remained optimistic of conducting the tournament smoothly with strict precautions thanks to the bubbles, had no choice but to suspend the tournament.

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Soon after the suspension, the focus for the board shifted to getting the players back home. The overseas players were the priority as expected and charter flights were used for the purpose. Players from countries like South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies and England all returned home safely with the exception of a few who are in Maldives. The Australians are also in the island country due to a travel ban in their country on flights from India.

Jimmy Neesham on the calling off of IPL 2021

Jimmy Neesham
Jimmy Neesham

New Zealand and Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder Jimmy Neesham who returned home two days ago spoke about the tournament’s suspension to News Hub NZ and said, “Even though we were flying on chartered planes, we have to go through customs, hand your details over to people, walk through terminals, so there were always going to be pinchpoints there. We obviously don’t know yet exactly how teams were infiltrated, but it’s such a difficult prospect to keep everything perfect and when you’ve got so many guys that are close to each other, there are going to be social interactions after games.”

“Once one team has it, you start looking back through your last week at who you talked to and who you shook hands with. It certainly gets your mind racing. To be honest, I wasn’t expecating it to get called off. I think, when you’ve got so many teams in different bubbles, the expectation was that there would always be some cases at some point during the tournament. We thought teams might have to lock down and miss a couple of games, like we’ve seen in other organisations, like the NBA,” he added.

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Speaking of the IPL potentially continuing later this year, Neesham said, “If it did start up again, I doubt the IPL would be in India again. I think we’ve already seen plans for the T20 World Cup to move out of India later in the year and they’re going to be ultra-cautious about that sort of thing. For me, I signed up for the IPL knowing what it might be like. I felt like it was an obligation — I made the commitment to go and never had any thoughts of pulling out individually before the tournament finished.”

Neesham is not a part of the New Zealand Test team and hence, does not have cricketing action to look forward to for the next few weeks at least.

Also Read: IPL 2021: Sunrisers Hyderabad donate Rs. 30 crore for COVID-19 relief

Also Read: WATCH – Jofra Archer bowls a banana inswinger to trap a batsman LBW in Second XI Championship

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