Currently trying to pick Kieron Pollard and Rohit Sharma's brains, Mumbai Indians' Rs 8.25 crore big-hitting recruit Tim David says he will be ‘willing to take some risks’ in the upcoming IPL, as that is his approach. (More Cricket News)
The power-hitter from Australia, who has so far earned his international stripes for his birthplace of Singapore and not the country where he was raised, was snapped up by MI after a fierce bidding war in the IPL mega auction 2022 recently.
A great admirer of Pollard, David has been trying to imitate the power game of the veteran West Indian swashbuckler heading into the 15th edition of the lucrative league, and feels the two of them can do a lot together.
“It is an exciting idea to bat with him. Polly is someone I have admired for his power-hitting and have looked at some of his innings to see how I can do that myself. If we could get going in the middle and death overs, we could take a few games away,” David told mumbaiindians.com.
On skipper Rohit and his approach, David said, “Rohit Sharma is a world-class player. He just looks so effortless when he bats, it's very admirable. It is a huge bonus to be able to spend time with class players and try to pick their brains a little bit.
“I try to keep it simple. I could come in a lot of different situations but my aim is always to have a positive approach and be willing to take some risks. Sometimes it may not come off but there is no better feeling than hitting one off the middle of the bat and it going for a big six.”
David has experience of playing for various franchises across the world -- Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2021 IPL, Perth Scorchers and Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League, Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League, Southern Brave in The Hundred and Saint Lucia Kings in the Caribbean Premier League.
MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene, who has worked with David in the Hundred, might have had a say in the selection of what he terms a "hot property" in the shortest format. “I think he is a hot property at the moment. In T20 cricket, he is known as a power-hitter. We have always had those options at Mumbai Indians.
“When we plan the auction and when we knew we had funds available after the Jofra Archer bid, we took into account the auction dynamics because a lot of the uncapped players were available and Tim became a great target for us,” Jayawardene said.
The Sri Lankan batting great and former captain added, "Like we have the Bumrah-Jofra combination to look forward to, we can have the Pollard-Tim David combination at the back-end of the innings.
“Tim is a much-improved player in the last few months and he is still young. We look forward to have him in the dressing room. You saw the price (8.25 Crore), it kept going up and many teams were interested in him, not just us. I am sure he will have a fabulous IPL career.”
David has represented Singapore in international cricket in 14 T20Is, scoring 558 runs at an average of 46.5 and a strike rate of 158.52 since his debut against Qatar in July 2019. The 25-year-old David is looking forward to utilise the opportunity of facing people like Jasprit Bumrah at MI nets to prepare himself better for the tournament.
“One bowler I am looking forward to facing the most in the nets is Bumrah. I know it sounds strange because he is one of the best in the world but I believe it will be great to test myself against him. I am sure it is going to be hard work.”
