Mumbai Indians' explosive batter earns maiden ODI call-up for Australia ahead of 2023 ODI World Cup

With just over a month remaining before the 2023 ODI World Cup kicks off in India, Cricket Australia (CA) has handed a golden opportunity to explosive lower-order batter Tim David to showcase his skills in 50-over cricket.

SportsTak

• Thu • 31 Aug 2023

With just over a month remaining before the 2023 ODI World Cup kicks off in India, Cricket Australia (CA) has handed a golden opportunity to explosive lower-order batter Tim David to showcase his skills in 50-over cricket. The Australian cricket board on August 31 (Thursday) announced that David will be part of Australia's ODI squad that will cross swords in a five-match series against South Africa. It was David's maiden call-up to the Baggy Greens' ODI set-up.

The lanky batter enthralled the onlookers with an explosive knock with the bat on August 30 (Wednesday) when he whacked 64 runs off just 28 balls against the Proteas in the first T20I. In his destructive outing, the right-handed batter imposed his will and bludgeoned the South African to all corners of Kingsmead. David smashed seven fours and four sixes while registering a sensational strike rate of 228.57.

David made a name for himself by playing explosive knocks in franchise leagues around the world. A T20 specialist, David is known for destroying bowling attacks with his brute strength.

David is still relatively new to 50-over cricket as he has played just 16 List-A matches. He has scored 745 runs in 14 innings with the help of two centuries and five fifties while he has an average of 82.77 and a strike rate of 123.14.

The door to Australia ODI set-up opened up for Stoinis after multiple seasoned batters were left out of the Baggy Greens' squad owing to injury. Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell, two players who are bound to walk into Australia's playing XI in ODIs for the World Cup, will miss the series against South Africa.

Australia ODI squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Tanveer Sangha, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

David now has a chance to capitalise on the opportunity and make a name for himself in ODI cricket. If David fires in 50-over cricket, fans would be in for a treat as the batter is bound to display his destructive stroke-making skills.