Super Overs are good for the game: Jimmy Neesham

New Zealand cricketer James Neesham is yet to set the scoreboard ablaze with his all-round abilities in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, but the Kings XI Punjab player has a much larger role to play for his team. Currently, KXIP is sitting at the bottom of the table after five matches and is yet to find its momentum, but it still has a long way to go in the tournament, having won just one match and losing four.

Neesham, born and brought up in Auckland, New Zealand, has been part of the Kane Williamson-led side which has been on a roller-coaster ride for the last couple of years, especially 2019. He starred for the Black Caps, taking three wickets in the unforgettable ICC World Cup 2019 final, and was involved in the run-out of England’s Mark Wood which led to the tie. He was also sent in to bat in the subsequent Super Over by Williamson.

In an interview with The Week from Dubai, Neesham talks about the challenges of playing in the UAE, the World Cup final and the Super Over, how he had coped with the result that shattered hearts, and the experience of working with KXIP coach Anil Kumble. Excerpts:

You seem to be invariably involved in Super Overs. What are your thoughts on this method to get a result out of a tied match? Can one really prepare for a Super Over? 

Yeah, you can definitely prepare for Super Overs. It’s just an extension of the normal death overs, a normal T20 game—batting in the 19th and 20th over, or bowling—pretty much the same principles apply. Guys have been training for it for a long time. I think it’s just that it’s such a small sample size, luck plays a huge role, when you win or lose, you can still do something to give yourselves a chance.

Would you rather not be involved in a Super Over for some time given that you and the New Zealand team went through one in the WC final?

Yeah, its part of a game, isn’t it? You win some, you lose some. Obviously, the World Cup final was a significant one to lose, it has stayed in lots of people’s memory. We have won a few in the past as well, it’s been a pretty good feeling when you are on the right side of it. I think it’s here to stay. It is extremely exciting from crowd perspective. You need to find a tie-breaker for a tied game, that keeps eyeballs on the game. I think it’s good.

How do you look back at your 2019 season? Have you gotten over the World Cup final result?

I don’t think you get over [it], you just move on. It comes up in most interviews I do, it’s part of my career, of New Zealand cricket. You can’t try to run away from it. We have a strong unit, most of the guys are in that age bracket. The next World Cup will give us an opportunity. We will certainly give it a bullseye in 2023 to make right what happened in 2015 and 2019.

What do you make of the conditions this IPL? It’s obviously very hot, and heat and dew play a huge role…

[It is] certainly very challenging to be a bowler. We have seen totals being very high—on most occasions, especially in Sharjah, where the ground is very small. The dew factor comes in later in the game as well. It’s very difficult to defend the boundary as a bowler. But I think it will be like that for starters, especially the first month. Once the wickets become more worn, it will be more challenging to score runs. It’s as we had expected. We knew it will be challenging to bowl in death overs given the quality of batting in the squads. We will continue to see higher par scores.

Sharjah is a small ground and quite a deathbed for bowlers. How do you view small grounds as an all-rounder?

Obviously, you have got to be as clear in your mind as you can about your plans—how you will execute [it], what shots you will be playing etc. Smaller grounds, a good pitch and dew around, you have to accept guys will score runs. The other night saw both teams getting 220 plus, no bowlers had the answer. Winning or losing, if you can keep the economy rate till 12 instead of 20 plus, that would be great! If you finish with an ER under 9, then probably you are doing a good job for your team whereas in the past, they would look at ER of 9 and think you are expensive. As long as you know what the expectations are as a bowling group and as a leadership group, you know what you are trying to achieve, it should be fine.

You have been a part of the IPL since 2014, playing for different teams. How has it evolved as a competition over the years?

Yeah, I think analysis and stuff is coming more into play these days. Rather than picking your best XI, it’s about which players match up against the opposition players. A little bit of more thought goes into things; auctions, particularly teams, are getting more smart—not spending too much money on, let’s say, the “flavour of the month”, but more on experience and longevity, guys who will bring more to the team than those doing something in a couple of weeks before the auction. ‘No crowds’ will make the difference, but hopefully, we will be back in India next year and the crowds will be back, too.

What did you do during the extended lockdown? Did you miss playing competitive cricket or was it as an opportunity to recharge your batteries?

I just trained really hard, to be honest. In New Zealand, we could get outside and train, do gym work. The first couple of weeks you look to get the body recharged, trying to get better, fitter, putting a lot of work down in what was an extended off-season. I saw it as an opportunity to try and learn and get better as a cricketer than complain, or see it as a downside.

Playing competitive cricket again, starting with IPL, what are you looking to take away from this competition going into a new season at home?

I do not have any heavy expectations. As a cricketer, I have proven my quality over the last couple of years around the world and people know what I bring to the table. For me, it’s just about being professional; turning up each day, a leader of a group, a cultural leader during training, working hard and enjoying it. I know when I am in a frame of mind when I am relaxed, not too stressed  about the games. That’s when I get best out of my game. It’s not about focusing on my performance; scoring certain number of runs or taking certain number of wickets. It’s about contributing in other ways. If we can have 6-8 guys in a squad contributing positively to the group, that’s when you get the best result. For me, it’s about turning up the next day, whether I have a good game or bad game night before, still training with the same attitude and energy.

Are you disappointed that the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia this year got postponed?

I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking what I would have dinner that night when they announced the [postponement], and the rest of the cricket season, too. For me, it was about the next game around the corner. The T20 World Cup will come around at some point and, hopefully, I will be playing and picked up for the New Zealand team for the tournament; the future will take care of that. For the moment, it’s about playing well for KXIP, making it to semifinals and from there winning it.

KXIP has a new coach in Anil Kumble. What has your experience been like while working with him?

It’s been fantastic. He’s quite different, personality-wise, than what I had expected—seeing him on TV, watching him play, watching him coach on TV—I thought he was quite serious. Getting to know him, [I feel] he’s quite relaxed, more than happy for K.L. Rahul to take charge from a leadership perspective. We have had some robust conversations about not my game but the direction the team is [taking], make up of elevens. I respect him hugely not only for what he has achieved on the cricket field, but also for his demeanour. I think it’s important to have calmness in your leadership. In our team, KL (Rahul), Anil, Chris Gayle, Glenn Maxwell… We do have a lot of calmness in the group, and that’s what the team needs to get the best results.