Australian T20 Team Needs Tim David More Than Tim David Needs Them
Australia is quite a mid-table team at max because of the lack of power-hitting ability the team posses. And yet, there hasn't been any kind of change in the squad.
The Australian T20 squad is all set to play a three-match series against Sri Lanka from 7th June. The Australian team hasn't changed much since their T20 World Cup triumph in November 2021. Apart from Pat Cummins (injury) and Adam Zampa (paternity leave), everybody is there in the 'full-strength' squad.
Is it really a full-strength squad though? Does winning the World Cup actually means they have nailed the format and compiled a perfect squad?
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Since 2020, Australia has had the third-worst scoring rate among the top ten teams - 125.53; only Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are lower. And it's not like the batters are accumulating runs; Australian batting has the third-worst average as well - 22.71 since 2020.
In the last two years, Australia has scored at a run rate of 7.98. They are the fourth-worst starters of a T20 inning - 7.98 RR in the powerplay. It continues to score poorly in the middle overs - 7.61 and 9.18 in the death overs.
Australia is quite a mid-table team at max because of the lack of power-hitting ability the team posses. And yet, there hasn't been any kind of change in the squad.
Tim David is continuing to dominate different T20 leagues worldwide. He has been doing this since 2017. David is a prototype T20 batter who looks to play the format as it should be played - scoring maximum amounts of runs in limited balls.
His average stay at the crease is 20 balls and scores more than 34 runs - a strike rate of 164.83; interestingly, he has scored a duck only once since his debut.
Where can Tim David Help Australia
One thing that builds pressure on a team in a T20 game is dot balls and/or lack of boundaries. What Australia is facing is the problem of lack of middle over game-controller. Since 2020, Australia is not only scoring slow but losing wickets more quickly than most teams.
Since 2020, Tim David has scored 219 runs in the middle overs at a strike rate of 150 while averaging 73. The 26-year-old smacks pace bowling at a strike rate of over 182 while scoring over 1260 runs and against spin, David strikes close to 148 and averages 48.
With his power-hitting ability, Australia can use him at any position and he will be able to put them in good situations on most occasions. David's strike rate hasn't gone less than 159 batting at any position from number four to number seven.
In an ideal situation, Tim David would walk out in the 13th or 14th over, batting at number six and finishing the innings for his team. In the last six overs, David has a strike rate of 188 after facing 660 balls and averaging 30.39.
Batting at number six and number five, David has scored 1422 runs in the last two years at a strike rate close to 165. For Australia, since 2020, Marcus Stoinis is the highest scorer batting at number six and five - 403 at a rate of 150.
Tim can easily walk into the Australian XI and replace Steve Smith or Aaron Finch. Contrary to how he's the world's best test batter currently, Smith has been simply poor when it comes to the shortest format. His strike rate has been 125 in the last two years and averages 26.23. He's neither picking pace in run-scoring nor accumulating runs from one end.
Sending Tim David to Sri Lanka would've been a perfect opportunity for Australia to try something new and necessary and solidify the middle order which simply looks bleak at the moment.
Also Read: Scorecard
Meanwhile, Tim David is having a time of his life batting for different franchises and smacking opponents with ease; catch his latest exploits in the T20 blast after a brilliant IPL debut.
