• Watson says the board needs to fit David in the T20I squad.
• David performed exceptionally during the IPL.
• Australia is currently touring Sri Lanka.

Australia is the reigning T20 World Cup champion and has not lost a T20 International series this year. However, with fewer than a hundred days till the commencement of their home title defense, their roster is plagued with a significant question. How will Tim David fit into an established winning team?

David has played for Singapore, but he’s eligible for Australia and has spoken with George Bailey.

Shane Watson, the T20 World Cup trophy ambassador for the 2022 event in Australia, says they must find a way to include David.

I hadn’t really seen much of him at all up until the IPL and seeing what he did there is something that I haven’t seen for a long time,” Watson said. “For a young guy coming in and just dominating and just hitting the ball like I haven’t really seen in the past. So you just find a way.

“It’s hard with Australia being the defending champions of the T20 World Cup. But with someone like that, the power that he has and the composure as well under pressure situations is something that’s very, very rare.”

During the most recent IPL, Watson observed David up close while he was an assistant coach for Delhi Capitals. He saw him hit 34 off 11 balls to assist Mumbai Indians to beat the Capitals, who required 65 off 31. The result eliminated the Capitals from the playoffs.

David’s superb form has helped Lancashire reach the Vitality Blast finals. He scored 387 runs at a strike rate of 180 in 15 innings, with two half-centuries. Alex Hales (193.78) and Rilee Roussouw (189.17) have greater strike rates than David, but both have batted primarily in the top three whereas David has batted no higher than No. 5.

[embedpost slug = “/the-oakland-coliseum-will-host-the-2024-mens-t20-world-cup/”]

Tim David wasn’t selected for Australia’s tour to Sri Lanka before his IPL form. Aaron Finch has been questioned about David regularly in recent months and believes his time is soon.

“I think it’s important that that time will come for Tim,” Finch said. “He’s such a valuable asset. Guys with that much power who can bowl a few overs are good in the field, they will slot into a lot of T20 sides. So I think there’s going to be opportunities there no doubt, especially with the amount of cricket that’s going to be played over the next sort of three months until that World Cup starts.”

Australia’s next T20I is in September when they play a three-match series in India. Between six home ODIs against Zimbabwe and New Zealand in late August and five home, T20Is against West Indies and England in early October are the World Cup warm-up games.

David Warner and Steven Smith, Australia’s only three-format batsmen, could be rested in India because the circumstances would be different from the World Cup and both will have heavy Test workloads after the tournament.

Australia may need to name its World Cup squad early, however late alterations are possible. David is on the edge of the Australian system without a state contract and has been confirmed in the CPL for St Lucia Kings through September, but he may abandon that deal if he receives an international call-up.

Tim David has a rookie deal with WA in 2018-19 and played one Marsh Cup game for Tasmania last season. Watson has highlighted reasonable concerns about the impact of appointing David from outside the state system.

Cricket Australia’s high-performance squad doesn’t view it as a concern and is looking at methods to contract T20 specialists in the future without requiring them to sacrifice franchise cricket to continue in the domestic system. David is the latest player named for Australia’s T20I team without a state contract.

Smith appears to be the weakest member of Australia’s established lineup. At Australia’s last T20I against Sri Lanka in Pallekele, he made 37 not out off 27 balls, although it was the first time he had scored over 135 since September 2020. But Australia’s management believes he will be valuable in T20 circumstances.

[embedpost slug = “/shoaib-malik-available-to-play-in-t20-world-cup-in-australia/”]