IPL 2022: Rohit Sharma is a world class player, exciting idea to beat with Kieron Pollard says Tim David

Sport

Tim David, the Rs 8.25 crore big hitting recruit of the Mumbai Indians, is excited about the opportunity to play alongside Indian captain Rohit Sharma and West Indian skipper Kieron Pollard in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.

David, the power hitter from Australia, was recently snapped up by MI after a bitter bidding war at the IPL Mega Auction. David, a huge admirer of Pollard’s, has sought to emulate the power play of the veteran West Indian swashbuckler heading into the 15th edition of the lucrative league and believes the two can go a long way together.

“It’s an exciting idea to bat with him. Polly is someone I admired for his batting power and I watched a few of his innings to see how I could 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.

About 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 top players and try to rack their brains a bit.

“I try to keep it simple. I could find myself in many different situations, but my goal is always to have a positive attitude and be willing to take risks. Sometimes it might not work out, but there’s no better feeling than hitting one mid-bat and taking it to a big six, 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 choosing what he describes as “hot property” in the shortest format.

“I think he’s a hot commodity at the moment. In T20 cricket he is known as a power hitter. We’ve always had those opportunities at Mumbai Indians. “When planning the auction and knowing we had funds available following Jofra Archer’s bid, we considered the auction dynamics as there were many uncapped players available and Tim became a great target for us,” Jayawardene said. The batting champion and former Sri Lankan captain added: “Just as we can look forward to the Bumrah-Jofra combo, we can have the Pollard-Tim David combo at the bottom of the innings.

“Tim has improved a lot in the last few months and is still young. We are happy to have him in the dressing room. You saw the price (8.25 crore), it kept going up and many teams were interested in it, not just us. I’m sure he will have a fabulous IPL career.” David has represented Singapore in international cricket in 14 T20Is and has 558 runs since making his debut against Qatar in July 2019 with an average of 46.5 and a batting average of 158, 52 scored.

25-year-old David is looking forward to taking the opportunity to play against the likes of Jasprit Bumrah at MI Nets to better prepare for the tournament.

“One bowler I’m looking forward to the most in the nets is Bumrah. I know it sounds strange because he’s one of the best in the world, but I think it’s going to be great to go head-to-head with him. I’m sure it will be hard work.”

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