Last Updated on 3 years by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Will Tim David play for Australia in 2022? | A look at whether Tim David could play for Australia in T20 cricket in 2022
Winning a title is a difficult task. An even more complicated process is to defend it successfully. No team has lifted the World T20 trophy consecutively in the history of this competition.
The Aaron Finch-led Australian unit has an incredible opportunity to scale this feat in their own backyard later on this year. But, a prevailing question looms over the squad. Are they good enough to do so, all over again?
A consistent trait with successful setups is that they are constantly on the verge of improving themselves. Australia would need to do something different, add more weapons in their armoury if they intend to emerge victorious in the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Enter Tim David.
The Aussie born middle-order power hitter has proved his T20 credentials all across the world. He has dominated franchise competitions consistently over the last couple of years. But a doubt always stayed whether he would be able to make it click in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Tim David for Australia? The finisher had a brilliant IPL campaign
David took to the IPL like duck to water. The Mumbai Indians (MI) regretted dropping him for six games and brought him back in the backend of the tournament. The finisher won four games for MI and hit 173 runs at a terrific strike rate of 230.66.
Overall, he has scored 1413 runs at an exceptional strike rate of 170.65 in the T20 format since the start of 2021. He possesses a skillset that is very much in demand these days. Not many cricketers are able to master the art of finishing a T20 innings. Ravichandran Ashwin called it a brutal task recently and that explains why franchises across the world are willing to break the bank for similar sort of players.
David is currently playing for Lancashire in the Vitality T20 Blast whilst the Australian side is touring Sri Lanka for their upcoming limited-overs assignment.
A quick glance at the Australian T20 team shows that they already have the duo of Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis carrying out the role that David will be targeting in the playing XI. Wade recently won the IPL with the Gujarat Titans and the duo were instrumental in Australia’s vital semi-final victory vs Pakistan in their victorious World T20 campaign last year. Moreover, Wade is a left-hander and a wicket-keeper whereas Stoinis is more than handy with the bat. So, the two of them comfortably keep their place.
Mitchell Marsh and David Warner are sure-shot starters as well. Only Aaron Finch and Steven Smith are misfiring currently. Finch is the skipper whereas Smith is expected to carry out the role of a troubleshooting floater. As of now, the former Test skipper seems to be only one whom David can replace in the XI.
It might be a big call. For Australia to drop one of their absolute greatest players in the whites for a rather rookie T20 freelancer will be a big call. Smith has done his job decently in the T20 format so far. But, is he better than David for that number 5 slot? The jury is open on that. Recent form and numbers tilt the scales in David’s favour. Australia will have to make a decisive call on this front as the World T20 nears.
It is likely that this move can make or break their prospects in the tournament altogether.
(All statistics true as of 1st June, 2022)
Tim David for Australia is something we’ll look at – Aaron Finch
Australia captain Aaron Finch has said that the think tank is keeping a close eye on Tim David. The skipper said that his form cannot be ignored.
“He’s been in fantastic form for a while now,” Finch said. “The back end of the IPL was fantastic for him. He was at his brutal best. The ability to hit from ball one is a pretty rare skill. And he’s done that plenty of times now and for him to keep being so consistent, that’s something that we’ll definitely look at over the next little while.”
However, as David is not in Australia’s squad for the Sri Lanka tour, the earliest he can play is in India in September. That is about a month before the World Cup, so it will be interesting to see whether Australia try blood him into the national side so close to their title defence.
