T20 World Cup: Destined Tim David looks to take tournament by storm with Australia

From young to experienced, many are set to play their first T20 World Cup when action gets underway Down Under. Before the first ball is bowled, Firstpost.com brings to you FirstCup – a special series where we chart journeys of T20 World Cup debutants.

Come the 2022 T20 World Cup, Singapore-born cricketer Tim David will be set to make headlines for Australia at the multinational tournament Down Under. Yes, you read that right. A cricketer born in Singapore will be representing Australia at the T20 World Cup, having made his Australia debut only in September, against India in Mohali in a T20I.

With Singapore never having previously qualified for a men’s T20 World Cup and Tim David aligning with Australia as his cricketing nationality, the 26-year-old looks destined to play in his debut T20 World Cup.

So, who is Tim David and what can we expect from him? Let’s find out

Born in Singapore, brought up in Australia

As far as Tim David’s backstory is concerned, it is important to note that Tim’s father Rod David was also a cricketer once, having plied trade for Singapore in 1997. Tim David’s family had been living in Singapore from the 1990s, and Tim was born on 16 March, 1996 in Singapore.

David and his family then moved back to Perth in Australia in 1998, when Tim was just two years old. Tim’s father, though, continued playing club cricket in Australia, representing the Claremont-Nedlands Cricket Club that is based in Western Australia.

Having been born in Singapore, Tim was always eligible to play for Singapore. Tim was eight years old when he started looking at cricket as a career prospect.

And at 19, Tim would go onto feature for Western Australia Under-19s team. Although he struggled to find success there, he would go onto play for the Western Australia Under-23s team in 2018, when he scored 411 runs from five games.

Earlier in the season, David would go onto score 963 runs in a season of England’s Northeast Premier League.

BBL contract with Perth Scorchers, then injury troubles

Be it in any professional career, nothing comes easy for anybody, and there are bound to be setbacks. It was no different for David. A productive season with Western Australia Under-23s would see him earn a contract with Perth Scorchers in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL).

David made his BBL debut on 1 January 2018, and would get to play only four games in his first season, scoring 36 runs from three innings. David was then ruled out of the entirety of his second BBL season after sustaining a stress fracture on his foot in December 2018. That would hamper his progress, and rule him out of at least three months, making a playing comeback to Claremont-Nedlands in March 2019. A month later, he would undergo an operation ahead of returning to the cricket field yet again.

While David would go onto sign a contract with Western Australia for the 2018-19 season, injuries meant that he would get delisted from the team. That would be followed by the Perth Scorchers denying David a new contract for the BBL season, and as a result, David returned to the country of his birth, Singapore.

David made his Singapore debut against Qatar in a CWC Challenge League Group A contest. Interestingly, at the time, David had not played professional cricket in Singapore, having moved to Australia with his family when he was just two years old.

Anyway, David would go onto score 75 off 87 balls in that contest, but his efforts would later go in vain.

David’s best was yet to come. He would go onto amass 92 off just 32 balls in an ACC Eastern Region T20 tournament game against Malaysia, amassing nine fours and seven sixes. By now, David had created a brand for himself, a brand for the cricketing fraternity.

Switch to Hobart Hurricanes

The 2020-21 BBL season would see David switch allegiance from Perth Scorchers to Hobart Hurricanes where he would get more game time, scoring 279 runs from 14 games at a strike-rate of 153.30.

David would go onto impress in the first match of the season, against Sydney Sixers, with a 33-ball knock of 58.

A decently productive season in the BBL would see David get a gig with Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), when the tournament restarted in June 2021. David was named replacement for another David, David Wiese, and Tim aggregated 180 runs from six matches at a strike-rate of 166.66.

IPL 2022 gig with Mumbai Indians

David would enter the IPL 2022 auction with a huge interest from franchises. His base price was Rs 40 lakh, but would fetch for Rs 8.25 crore with five-time champions Mumbai Indians acquiring his services, after an intense battle with the likes of Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals.

However, not all was easy for Tim, who endured scores of 12 and 1 in his first two matches for MI, and was left out of the playing XI in favour of South African youngster Dewald Brevis. However, making a strong return to the XI in May, David would go onto score an unbeaten 21-ball 44 against Gujarat Titans, who were league leaders at the time.

David later recalled his frustrations on being benched by MI. “It wasn’t ideal,” David was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“It was just a team balance thing. It being the start of a new cycle, teams were trying to find their best combinations and unfortunately, I found myself out of the side,” David added.

“You can’t control performances on the field but I felt like if I grew as a player over two-and-a-half months there, it would put me in good stead moving forwards and I’m pretty pleased with how I progressed,” David had said in May.

In his eight appearances in IPL 2022, David would go onto make 186 runs for MI, amassing 16 sixes during this time.

Over the years, David has proven what he is capable of. He has gained immense experience of playing in various T20 leagues like the IPL, Caribbean Premier League and the PSL, and he would be hoping to make a statement in the T20 World Cup in Australia. He’s a power-hitter, a clinical finisher, and the valuable experience he gains from the T20 World Cup will only help him go onwards and upwards in his cricketing career.

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