Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has said that the Mumbai Indians’ decision to bench Tim David after a couple of failures surprised him. Watson felt that the Singapore-based all-rounder was talented enough to get a longer rope from the MI team management. However, the Mumbai-based franchise benched him and gave opportunities to Dewald Brevis.
In their last match against the Rajasthan Royals, Tim David made a comeback to the Mumbai Indians playing XI and helped the franchise snap their eight-match losing streak in IPL 2022.
Speaking on The Grade Cricketer Podcast, Shane Watson gave his two cents on MI’s decision to drop David. Here’s what he had to say:
“I was always surprised that Mumbai gave him only a couple of games to start with. It’s not whether you spend money on someone. But he has done well consistently for the last couple of years. So he is someone I thought they should have stuck with a lot more, even for 4-5 games to see what he can do.”
Mumbai Indians bought Tim David for a massive price of 8.25 crore at the IPL 2022 Mega Auction
Generally, teams tend to back the players whom they sign for big amounts. However, the same was not the case for Tim David and Mumbai Indians. The Mumbai-based franchise splurged INR 8.25 crore at the IPL 2022 Mega Auction to sign the Singapore-based all-rounder. However, they took him out of the playing XI after he failed to do well in the first two matches.
David has now earned another chance to cement his place in the Mumbai Indians playing XI. He played a match-winning knock against the Rajasthan Royals, and if he continues in the same vein, he could be a game-changer for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022. It will be interesting to see if MI retain him for the 2023 edition of the IPL.
