A fan advises Jimmy Neesham to concentrate on the final; the all-rounder responds

With their team having made two back-to-back finals at the World Cup, perhaps New Zealand players too have started feeling the pressure of intense fan following and vigilance. Batting all-rounder James Neesham, who took a brilliant catch to dismiss Dinesh Karthik in the semi-final against India at Old Trafford on Wednesday, has just learnt about it and he couldn’t help but tweet about it. The Blackcaps will play England, who blew away Australia in the other semi-final on Thursday, in the Final at Lord’s on July 14.

It all happened when Neesham tweeted about a man who was travelling with him on the same train and making a number of “meaningless phone calls”. In his familiar style, the 28-year-old cricketer quipped: “The guy sitting in front of me on the train has just made, seriously, 7 consecutive meaningless phone calls… ON SPEAKERPHONE If he gets to ten can I biff a grape at him?”

To this, one of his followers called J. asked Neesham to concentrate on the final which is just a couple of days away. Neesham doesn’t just take it on social media and as a counter asked what people expected him to do while travelling on a train. The fan, who also said the cricketer is his favourite and retweeted his counter as well.

I’m on a train, what exactly do you expect me to concentrate on? ????

(apart from tweets from people who don’t understand high performance sport) https://t.co/SA1ZbRXWkA

— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) July 11, 2019

Concentrate on final man ffs

— J. (@BeingCristiano) July 11, 2019

Neesham is known for his funny takes on social media

Neesham is known for his funny takes on social media. When his captain Kane Williamson did not bowl him in the game against South Africa at the World Cup after he took a fifer against Afghanistan, he had posted a photo of Williamson making a bizarre gesture. It was to suggest that the skipper had forgotten to toss the ball at him despite his rich exploits against the Afghans.

Also read – Sunil Chhetri is proud of Team India for their performance in the 2019 World Cup

Neesham did not have an extra-ordinary maiden World Cup apart from that five-wicket haul and a fighting 97 not out against Pakistan in Birmingham. However, he still remains a key batter in the Black Caps line-up, particularly since a number of Kiwi batsmen are not in the best of touches.

New Zealand became the fifth team to make consecutive World Cup finals after Australia (four times), West Indies (thrice), England and Sri Lanka (twice each). However, no matter who wins the trophy, the cricketing world is set to witness a first time champion.