Friday’s cricket bonanza saw as many as six teams competing against each other in 3 international matches. Two of those games featured New Zealand and Australia, which subsequently featured Jimmy Neesham and Glenn Maxwell; two of Kings XI Punjab’s most disappointing performers in the recently finished IPL 2020 season.
Maxwell and Neesham take a U-turn from their dismal IPL form
But a return to the international fold saw both the Punjabi overseas imports return to scintillating form. Playing against the West Indies, Neesham played an explosive, match-winning innings 0f 48* (24 balls) to seal the deal for the Blackcaps. Maxwell, meanwhile, proved exactly what makes him one of the most mercurial players in the current fold, as he clobbered 45-runs of 19-balls in Australia’s mammoth first-innings 374-run total against the visiting Indian side.
Maxi and Jimmy’s match-winning cameos attracted quite a bit of attention from Indian fans. KXIP fans, in particular, found a great opportunity in circulating memes around the two players. Twitter user Varun (@iamvarun10) did just that when he posted a photoshopped picture on Twitter. The hilarious photo featured Punjab’s captain KL Rahul as popular Pakistani meme icon, Mohammed Sarim Akhtar. Sarim was a smash-hit on social media last year, thanks to his priceless, ‘disappointment’ expression in one of Pakistan’s World Cup matches.
Based on that template, Varun crop-pasted Rahul’s face on Sarim’s to match a similar expression of frustration at Maxwell and Neesham’s performances. Here’s the meme in question:
#KLRahul after seeing #Maxwell and @JimmyNeesh play crucial knocks for their respective national teams.#INDvAUS #NZvWI #Cricket #IPL #KXIP pic.twitter.com/rpktFbbaco
— Varun (@iamvarun10) November 27, 2020
Neesham, Maxwell react positively to KL Rahul-Sarim Akhtar meme
The image became viral in no-time, collecting over 8000-likes and 400+ retweets. But its popularity hit the peak when Neesham himself acknowledged the quality of the meme! “Hahaha, that’s actually pretty good,” Jimmy commented, also tagging Maxwell in the picture.
Hahaha that’s actually pretty good @Gmaxi_32 😂 https://t.co/vsDrPUx58M
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) November 28, 2020
And just a few hours later, Maxwell too shared his insights on the meme. He also made a pretty interesting revelation. Check this out:
I apologised to him while I was batting 😂 🦁 🙏 #kxipfriends ❤️
— Glenn Maxwell (@Gmaxi_32) November 28, 2020
