Tim David stumbles in Kieron Pollard's shoes as MI's free fall continues

"Kam se kam 140 to chahiye yaar (at least 140 is needed)!" said a hopeful Mumbai Indians (MI) fan sitting in the Sachin Tendulkar Stand as Tim David set himself up for the final couple of overs against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Monday, April 1. It was already a compromise in expectations that were completely different at the start of the innings.

However, even those expectations were dashed as David hit a short ball straight to Trent Boult at square leg. As MI's designated finisher walked back to the dugout, there was a sense of agony and discomfort among the fans and the writer too, who was present in the Sachin Tendulkar Stand, felt it.

The writer sensed fans bargaining with their conscience, and with their expectations, bringing down their ask of a 200+ score to 140. But all Mumbai could manage was 125.

It was a collective batting failure, and in no way does Tim David deserve the lion's share of the blame. But the pattern with the Australian big-hitter would be a massive concern for the five-time IPL champions.

The promise of consistency that David showed a couple of years ago to become the heir to Kieron Pollard's throne seems to have disappeared. MI do not have enough credit in the bank, having already lost three games, and they urgently need to address the Tim David conundrum.

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Tim David, match-ups & game awareness

Kieron Pollard's pictures in an MI jersey with the caption 'You only miss the Sun when it starts to snow' often go viral on social media when Tim David has an off day. Such instances are becoming more frequent now.

While it is true that replacing one of the greatest T20 finishers in Pollard is tough, even for a player as destructive as David, expectations will naturally be high at a franchise that has won five IPL titles.

With Pollard now Mumbai's batting coach, one would expect him to pass on valuable finishing tips to David. One such tip would be understanding match-ups and taking the game deep. The former West Indies legend pulled MI out of a deep hole on multiple occasions simply by showing game awareness.

Tim David seemed to be putting the same values into practice when he chose to take the innings deep instead of counter-attacking against RR. MI were already six down in the 12th over and it made sense for David to ensure the hosts bat out the 20 overs, maximizing his output simultaneously.

But another finishing trait that Pollard had mastered was understanding his positive match-ups. Skipper Sanju Samson had held an over of Yuzvendra Chahal back for the death and brought back Avesh Khan and Ravichandran Ashwin for a short spell. Here's where David had the opportunity to up the ante and take some risk.

But he seemed content to bide time and see them through. On a ground like Wankhede with smaller dimensions and a quicker outfield, David had enough experience to know that a total in the 120-130 region would never be enough.

If he had to go down, he could have gone down fighting by taking the game to the opposition, at least against pace and with Ashwin's off-spin turning into him. 11 dot balls in an innings of 17(24) paint an uninspiring picture for a bonafide finisher.

A similar lack of game awareness from David was seen in MI's first game of the season against the Gujarat Titans. Tilak Varma denying singles so Tim David didn't have to face the negative match-up with Rashid Khan seemed embarrassing, especially when the latter was promoted ahead of Hardik Pandya at No. 6.

The equation was well within Mumbai's reach in the same game, with 27 runs needed off 13 balls. Mohit Sharma was just a delivery away from completing a spell that had already done some damage to MI's hopes.

Tim David would have been aware that after one delivery, Shubman Gill would turn to Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav or Spencer Johnson for the final two overs. But he tried to flat bat a bouncer and could only lob it towards deep mid-wicket. Who knows had David been around for the last two overs, Mumbai would have had some points on the board to show for.

These little moments of identifying match-ups and showing game awareness made Pollard a legendary finisher. And this will be a discussion that the now MI batting coach would like to have again with David if he hasn't already.

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Should Mumbai Indians pull the trigger?

MI had traded in Romario Shepherd ahead of the IPL 2024 auction and he primarily seemed as a backup for Tim David. They also have veteran Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi. Now after a couple of absolute dampeners from David in three games, should Mumbai make the change?

Shepherd featured in Mumbai's loss to SunRiders Hyderabad and showed glimpses of his big-hitting ability, and Nabi's all-round prowess is hidden from none. The duo's explosive ability coupled with their bowling may tempt Mumbai to overlook David.

But MI have often taken a while to understand their best combination. Moreover, the finisher's role is such that a player will experience more failures than success. After all, the same fixture against RR last year saw the Australian big-hitter give his best performance in an MI shirt.

The MI management probably thought they were giving David the best possible scenario by promoting Piyush Chawla and avoiding the former's match-up against Yuzvedra Chahal. But the explosive batter has impressive numbers against leg-spin in T20 cricket.

Despite being dismissed 18 times in 99 innings to leg-spin, Tim David has also smashed 41 sixes and has a strike rate of 146.26. But it seemed the management doesn't trust their best finisher against wrist spin, in which case, it makes sense to try Nabi or Sheperd.

On the other hand, the Mumbai Indians management wouldn't be wrong in thinking David might be just one match-winning knock away from finding his mojo. The only question here is whether Mumbai are prepared to be patient despite the three losses and the ringing alarm bells.

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Speaking to cricket.com.au earlier this year in February, Tim David opened up on his mindset when he won Australia a last-ball T20I thriller against New Zealand with a sensational cameo of 31* off 10.

"My strength is to take the game on and it probably came to a certain stage in that game where I was like 'we’ve got to make a dent here, try and get the runs', so it kind of evolved from there," said the batter.

If David feels he gets the best out of himself by counter-attacking, then probably taking the game deep wouldn't work for him. He may be better off going for the kill irrespective of the match situation. Clarity in thought process could be the best way out for the big-hitter from the rut he has found himself in.

Mumbai Indians have a six-day gap before their next game and there's plenty of time to ponder for Tim David and others. Pollard would probably put his arm around David, having himself faced such a slump in form during IPL 2022.

Whether the baton passed from Kieron Pollard to Tim David is given to someone else remains to be seen. But just Pollard's arm around his shoulder would probably help him for now. They say the darkest hour is before the dawn and MI would hope that a remontada is on the cards from the big Australian.