With less than four months left for the World T20 to kick off in Australia, teams might find it tricky to narrow a final eleven. Finding the perfect team combination and assigning specific roles to players remain key for all sides, and defending champions Australia in particular, looking for a second straight T20 crown. They will have the added pressure of defending the title in front of the home crowd and legendary Ricky Ponting has recommended an uncapped star, saying the power-hitter should be in Australia’s squad for this year’s tournament.
The former Australia skipper backed Tim David’s finishing prowess and tagged the 26-year-old as an “out and out match-winner”. David is currently the third-highest T20 run-scorer in 2022, having gathered 1002 at an incredible strike rate of 183.51. In his IPL spell with Mumbai Indians, he hit 186 runs at a strike rate of 216.27 from eight matches.
Also Read | BCCI posts epic Rahul Dravid-Brian Lara reunion pic during WI vs IND 1st ODI, Twitter hails it as ‘Picture of the day’
“If I was a selector, I’d love to have someone like that in my team,” Ponting was quoted as saying in a report by Cricket Australia. “He’s an out and out match winner. He’s the sort of player that could actually win you a World Cup; he’s not just the average run-of-the-mill guy that might just sneak into a squad.”
The batting icon also likened David to Andrew Symonds, who died in a tragic car accident in May. It was Ponting who had selected Symonds for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, where he scored an unbeaten 143 in their opening match.
Symonds, who played 26 Tests and 198 one-day internationals from 1998 to 2009, was considered one of the most skilled all-rounders Australian cricket has seen.
“He actually reminds me a bit of (late) Andrew Symonds back in the 2003 (ODI) World Cup. You know that if you get them in and give them an opportunity that they’re a chance of winning a tournament for you.
“That’s how I’d be looking at him right now and I know there’s some other quality players in the middle-order for Australia but probably none of them boasts a resume as good as Tim’s over the last two years,” Ponting added.
“(David’s) a very, very good and very dangerous T20 player that I’m sure the Australian selectors are thinking long and hard about for the World Cup in a couple of months’ time.”
David, the Singapore-born Australian batter, himself has said that he would be “thrilled and really excited” to be a part of the World T20 squad. Having plied his trade his T20 leagues across the globe, the player could be a valuable addition to the reigning champions’ team.
“They won the World Cup six months ago and that team hasn’t changed since then. Those guys have been playing for Australia for a long time. If I had the opportunity to be a part of it, I’d be thrilled and really excited.”
“I’m not really thinking about it too much, to be honest. Playing well in T20 leagues fills me with a lot of confidence, but international cricket is a different beast so we’ll see what happens if I get that opportunity. It’s just another challenge. I just want to keep trying to improve and have fun,” David was quoted as saying on BT Sport.
