3 teams that can target James Neesham in IPL 2020 Auction

As the IPL auction for the 13th edition of the league is just a few weeks away, all the IPL franchises would have started planning for the upcoming season. Since there is always a high demand of all-rounders in T20 cricket, New Zealand cricketer James Neesham can attract an expensive bid from the franchises.

Neesham had impressed with his performances in the 2019 Cricket World Cup and the succeeding Caribbean Premier League tournament. In CPL 2019, the Kiwi all-rounder was the highest wicket-taker from the Trinbago Knight Riders team with 11 wickets in 10 matches. He also contributed 75 runs to the team at a strike rate of 127.12.

In the 2019 World Cup, the left-handed batsman was the third highest run-getter for New Zealand with 232 runs in 10 matches. While with his right-arm medium pace, James had taken 15 wickets for his nation. Thus, he can prove to be a valuable commodity for a lot of IPL teams in the upcoming season.

In the article, let’s take a look at 3 teams which may target James Neesham in the IPL 2020 Auction –

Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab had committed a huge blunder by letting go Marcus Stoinis in the IPL trade window of 2018-19.  The team had acquired the services of Mandeep Singh in exchange however, the Punjab-based player is not a proper all-rounder. Mandeep is is primarily a batsman who can bowl a few overs.

Hence, he was not a like-for-like replacement for Stoinis. Punjab then signed Moises Henriques and Sam Curran in the auction but just like Mandeep, both Henriques and Curran are not proper all-rounders. They have their specialization in just one department of the game and this deficiency hurt the team combination of Kings XI Punjab.

Hence, the team owners may look to release Henriques ahead of the auction and bring someone like James Neesham in the team who can provide a good amount of balance to the squad.