Nagpur: One of the videos that went viral at the start of this week was from Australia’s nets session in Mohali ahead of the first T20I against India and had Tim David tonking the ball far and wide, getting ready for what was eventually a memorable debut for Australia.
Playing Twenty20 cricket for Singapore a few years ago, David had never imagined that one day he would be playing for Australia and on the brink of getting picked for a T20 World Cup to be hosted by the country next month.
David made his debut for Australia in white-ball cricket against India in the first T20I of the three-match series on Tuesday and along with Matthew Wade helped the visitors emerge winners by four wickets and take 1-0 lead in the series.
David was born in Singapore to Australian natives who moved there in the early 1990s. His family moved back to Australia when he was two years old in 1997 and he grew up in Perth. He made his debut for Singapore in 2019.
Having made a name for himself as a big hitter in various franchise-based leagues like Perth Scorchers, Hobart Hurricanes, Lahore Qalandars, Southern Brave, St Lucia Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Multan Kings, and Mumbai Indians, David was recently included in Australia’s squad for the T20 World Cup later this year.
Though he made his debut with a huge reputation as a big-hitter of the ball, the 25-year-old Tim David said there was no extra pressure when he made his debut for Australia.
“No, I don’t think it adds any pressure. I just go out there and do the games I see in front of me. I didn’t have any expectations from that,” David said during a media interaction ahead of the second T20I against India at the VCA Stadium here on Friday.
But more than the huge reputation that he has to guard, the reason why David tries to go all out playing his big shots in the nets is that he is aware that playing in the middle-order in a T20 match, he might have the luxury of playing too many balls to get going.
“My role in the team is batting in the middle-order so I am not going to face a lot of balls in the matches, so I have probably gotta put my foot down whether we are batting first or whether we are chasing and trying to finish off a game.
“So, I have to tick off my boxes, trying to play powerful shots, trying to clear the boundary. So, that’s a big part of my training, so I try to get volume in the nets because let’s say in the three-match series, I might face 20 balls, I might be how much I bat in the (entire) series, So, I try to get my work done in the nets and be prepared so that I am as perfect for the ball as I am on whenever I am in there to bat,” explained David about why he goes hammer and tongs at the bowlers in the nets.
With his big-hitting reputation growing by the day, David has to build his shot-making repertoire every time he steps into the nets. That has got him going so far and that has brought him so far from playing for an Associate Member team to making the World Champion’s squad for the T20 World Cup.
–IANS
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