According to Tom Moody, a former Australian cricketer, Tim David has the potential to perform exceptionally well as a finisher for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) season. Moody believes that David has the skills to replace Kieron Pollard in the future for the Mumbai team. Moody also predicts that David will improve his performance with more match experience. During a talk with ESPNcricinfo, Tom Moody said,
“Kieron Pollard was one of the game’s greats and one of the great finishers. I think Tim David will potentially reach those heights, but he is in the infant stages of that particular role. He has got all the ingredients that Pollard has got. He just needs to learn and understand the game a little bit more. He will only get that with playing opportunities.”
Tim David has played seven games in IPL 2023 and scored 113 runs with a strike rate of 143.04, which is noteworthy. However, during Mumbai Indians’ match against Gujarat Titans on April 25th at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, David was dismissed for a two-ball duck, which means he was dismissed without scoring any runs.
Shaun Tait Critiques Tim David’s Dismissal Against GT: ‘Felt Like He Pulled the Trigger a Bit Early’
In the earlier mentioned conversation, Shaun Tait, the former Australian fast bowler, expressed his view that Tim David needs to make some adjustments to his playing style, rather than solely relying on his power-hitting skills. Tait highlighted David’s dismissal while attempting to hit a big shot on just the second ball he faced against Gujarat. According to Tait, David should adopt a different approach, such as taking some singles in the early stage of his innings before attempting to accelerate the scoring rate. Tait explained,
“He is the sort of player that if there are some runs on the board and he comes in a comfortable time, he is extremely dangerous. It is critical, but maybe the next step in his game is maybe getting a few ones first down the ground, getting yourself an over, and then you can launch. I felt like he pulled the trigger a bit early tonight.”
Mumbai Indians faced a significant defeat of 55 runs against Gujarat Titans. At the midway point of IPL 2023, Rohit Sharma’s team has secured three wins and suffered four losses, placing them in the seventh position on the points table.