Mumbai hope power-hitting David can fill Pollard’s shoes

Mumbai hope power-hitting david can fill pollard's shoes0

Mumbai Indians believe Tim David’s power-hitting performance against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday may cover Kieron Pollard’s hole.

Mumbai won five IPL titles with Pollard, an aggressive hitter who could clear the rope nearly at will.

The West Indies legend, now Mumbai’s batting coach, would have been happy when David smashed an unbeaten 45 off 14 balls to help Mumbai chase down a 200-plus mark with three balls to spare in the 1,000th IPL game.

Rajasthan won the toss and batted at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, scoring 212-7 thanks to opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s two-run-a-ball 124.

David’s stunning knock clinched the home team’s fourth win in eight matches after Cameron Green (44) and Suryakumar Yadav (55) kept Mumbai in the game.

David hit three sixes in the penultimate over off Jason Holder to secure a six-wicket win.

“Look, it’s big shoes to fill,” Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma said when asked whether 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 has so much strength and talent. It helps later.

“With tremendous power, the bowler is continually considering (where to bowl). It’s useful.”

The high-scoring battle prevented David from targeting any bowler.

“It felt like every bowler had to be targeted,” he added.

“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 play Punjab Kings on Wednesday in Mohali.

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