Tim David, who is currently in the process of picking Kieron Pollard and Rohit Sharma’s brains, says he will be willing to take some risks in the upcoming IPL as that is his approach. The power-hitter from Australia, who has so far earned his international stripes for his native Singapore and not the country where he grew up, was recently picked up by MI after a fierce bidding war in the IPL mega auction. A great admirer of Pollard, David has tried to imitate the power play of the veteran West Indian swashbuckler heading into the 15th running of the lucrative competition, and he believes they can do a lot together.
“It’s an exciting idea to bat with him. Polly is someone I admired for his power-hitting and I’ve been watching some of his innings to see how I can do that myself. When we get into the middle and death overs If we could get going, we can take a few games away,” David told mumbaiindians.com.
Speaking of skipper Rohit and his approach, David said: “Rohit Sharma is a world class player. He just looks so effortless when he hits, it’s very admirable. It’s a huge bonus to be able to spend time with class players and try pick their brains a little.
“I try to keep it simple. I could get into many different situations, but my goal is always to have a positive approach and be willing to take some risks. Sometimes it may not work out, but there is no better feeling than hitting one off the center of the bat and it’s going for a big six.”
David has experience playing for several franchises around 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, may have had a say in the selection of what he calls a “hot property” in the shortest format.
“I think he’s a hot item right now. In T20 cricket, he’s known as a power hitter. We’ve always had those options at Mumbai Indians.
“When we planned the auction and when we knew we had money available after Jofra Archer’s bid, we took the auction dynamics into account because many of the uncapped players were available and Tim became a great target for us” said Jayawardene.
The Sri Lankan batter and former captain added: “As if we have the Bumrah-Jofra combination to look forward to, we can have the Pollard-Tim David combination at the end of the innings.
“Tim has been a much better player in recent months and he is still young. We are looking forward to having him in the dressing room. You saw the price (8.25 crore), it just kept going up and a lot of teams were interested in him. not just us. I’m sure he will have a fantastic 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.
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David, 25, is looking forward to taking the opportunity to meet the likes of Jasprit Bumrah at MI Nets to better prepare for the tournament.
“One bowler I’m most looking forward to in the nets is Bumrah. I know it sounds strange because he’s one of the best in the world, but I think it will be great to test myself against him. I’m sure that it is. will be hard work.”
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