NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Mumbai Indians hope Tim David’s spectacular power-hitting display against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday shows the Australian can fill the void left by Kieron Pollard’s retirement last year.
Pollard, an explosive batter who could clear the rope almost at will, spent his entire Indian Premier League (IPL) career with Mumbai and played a key role in each of their five title victories.
Now the team’s batting coach, the West Indies stalwart must have been pleased as David blasted an unbeaten 45 off 14 balls to help Mumbai chase down a 200-plus target with three balls to spare in the 1,000th IPL game.
Rajasthan opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s two-run-a-ball 124 had powered the Royals to an imposing 212-7 after they won the toss and elected to bat at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
Cameron Green (44) and Suryakumar Yadav (55) kept Mumbai in the contest but it was David’s explosive knock that secured the home side’s fourth victory in eight matches.
Needing 17 runs from the last over from Jason Holder, David smashed three sixes in a row to seal their six-wicket victory.
“Look, it’s big shoes to fill,” Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma said when asked if Singapore-born David was their next Pollard.
“‘Polly’ has done it for so many years and we have won so many championships with his performances.”
“Tim obviously has got a lot of ability … he’s got so much power. At the back end, it helps.
“When you have that kind of power, the bowler is always thinking (where to bowl). That’s good to have.”
David said the high-scoring nature of the contest meant he could not single out any bowler to target.
“It felt like every bowler had to be targeted,” he said.
“It was good batting condition, tough job for the bowlers there but personally I wanted to play an innings like this for a while.”
Mumbai travel to Mohali for their next match against Punjab Kings on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford)
