New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham has quite a reputation on social media for his witty comments. His candid and free-flowing style of banter has often made for some really fun and interesting online exchanges between his fans and himself.
Jimmy Neesham friends with multiple international cricketers
Thanks to his jolly nature, Jimmy is friends with several international cricketers both on and off the field. Even players outside from his New Zealand home, like Glenn Maxwell and KL Rahul, are fond of Jimmy and his fun-loving demeanor and have replied and appeared on several of his social media posts.
So given how well Jimmy gels with his fellow rival players, it is only fair to assume that he must have a particular favorite overseas player to compete with or against. That is actually one of the questions he had answered a few years back when a fan asked him about his favorite Indian cricketer. And Jimmy’s response? It was his typical sarcastic humor.
Back in 2019, when Neesham was with the New Zealand team touring Sri Lanka, he hosted an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on his Instagram account. Jimmy gave insights into a lot of fun aspects of his life, like revealing his favorite food and travel destinations. But there was one question, or rather Jimmy’s answer to the said question, that amused a lot of India fans.
Jimmy Neesham asked about his favorite ‘Indian’ cricketer
One of Jimmy’s fans asked him to name his favorite Indian cricketer. At the time, Jimmy had had the privilege of sharing the field alongside some prominent Indian cricketing names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah; whom he had just recently competed against in the 2019 World Cup semi-final. But even besides those names, Jimmy had shared IPL dressing rooms with several other high-profile Indian players like Dinesh Karthik and Mohammed Shami at the Delhi Daredevils’ dressing room.
And then, of course, there were a whole bunch of legendary Indian cricketers like Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid; all of whom must have impressed Jimmy’s cricketing mind at some point or another.
Jimmy, however, disregarded all of his fans’ expectations and went in with a rather unexpected sleeper pick. He posted a pic alongside Kiwi spinner Ish Sodhi who is of Indian origin.
Surprised? Amused? We sure had a taste of both of those emotions when we found out that Jimmy revealed that Ish Sodhi, his New Zealand teammate, was his favorite ‘Indian’ player!
Neesham’s favorite India cricketer has an interesting background
Sodhi was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, on 31 October 1992 as Inderbir Singh Sodhi. His family moved over to New Zealand when he was only 4-years-old and has resided there ever since. In fact, all of Sodhi’s cricketing accolades have come under his New Zealand-based citizenship; his test debut in 2013, his multiple ICC World Cup appearances.
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But, despite all that, Ish Sodhi ‘technically’ happens to a whole-souled Indian at his heart, which is what prompted Jimmy to name him as his favorite India player. Sodhi can comfortably speak some Punjabi too, as shown in this 2018 video of him rapping with his Rajasthan Royals teammate Prashant Chopra.
