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James Neesham rejects India tour, claims BPL coach [Source: @arnuX05/x]
James Neesham has chosen to stay in Bangladesh for the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL 2026) season. The star all-rounder was originally scheduled to tour India as part of the New Zealand cricket team to play a series of five T20I matches between January 21 and January 31.
The series in India marks New Zealand’s final dress rehearsal before next month’s ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.
James Neesham’s Rajshahi Warriors head coach Hannan Sarkar confirmed on January 19 that the New Zealand all-rounder has expressed his desire of staying back in Bangladesh for BPL 2025-26, thus rejecting his nation’s five-match T20I tour of India in the process.
James Neesham prioritizes league before nation in T20 World Cup season
On Monday, January 19, i.e., roughly a couple of days prior to the launch of New Zealand’s five-match T20I series in India, Rajshahi Warriors head coach Hannan Sarkar has confirmed on social media that all-rounder James Neesham will continue to remain in Bangladesh for the ongoing BPL 2025-26 season.
Hannan Sarkar stated that Neesham himself expressed his desire of staying back for BPL, thus prioritising the Bangladesh T20 league over New Zealand colours for an India tour, especially with a T20 World Cup on the horizon.
The Rajshahi Warriors head coach also hinted that Neesham might not have made a similar decision of staying back in Bangladesh if he was playing the BPL 2025-26 season for a different franchise.
Neesham was initially named for India tour
The coach further stated that Neesham’s decision is not just a major win for the Rajshahi Warriors in particular, but it brings a positive news for the entire BPL ecosystem and for Bangladesh cricket overall.
It is worth noting that New Zealand Cricket (NZC) included Neesham as part of a 15-player New Zealand squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series in India. The cricketer last featured for the New Zealand team back in November with a match against West Indies in Dunedin.
As of now, the NZC is yet to make an official statement regarding the impending absence of James Neesham.
Neesham in BPL 2025-26
Neesham has so far played just four matches of the BPL 2025-26 season out of his team’s 10 league fixtures. The cricketer has picked up three wickets in the process in four innings at an expensive bowling average of 31.66. With the bat, the left-hander has listed just 30 runs at a below par average of 10 and an underwhelming strike rate of 107.14.
Despite his misfiring, the Rajshahi Warriors franchise finished the league stage of the BPL 2025-26 season at the top of the six-team points table, securing eight wins in 10 matches at a formidable NRR of 0.335.
James Neesham and the rest of his Rajshahi Warriors teammates will now go up against the Chattogram Royals in the first qualifier of the BPL 2025-26 season. The match will be hosted by the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday, January 20 from 5:30 PM IST onwards.
