Australia announce T20 World Cup squad, Tim David receives maiden call-up

The defending champions Australia have named a 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup. Interestingly, Tim David, who is well known for his pyrotechnics, has received a maiden call-up. Aaron Finch will lead the squad while Pat Cummins has been named his deputy.

In fact, Australia has made only one change to their previous T20 World Cup team with Tim David replacing leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson.

David has earlier represented Singapore and he has scored 558 runs in 14 T20I matches at a blistering strike rate of 158.52 and an average of 46.50. Furthermore, he has scored 187 runs in nine IPL matches and had impressed while playing for Mumbai Indians in the previous season.

Meanwhile, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc will lead the pace battery for Australia while Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa are the two spinners.

Steven Smith, David Warner, and Aaron Finch are going to be the main top-order batters whereas Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, and Mitchell Marsh will play the all-rounder role in the team.

Australia will host the T20 World Cup in October-November and they will look to make the most of their own conditions. However, no host nation has so far won the T20 World Cup.

“Tim (David) continues to establish himself with some quality performances in leagues around the world, earning a place in the squad. He is a highly gifted, natural ball striker who will add extra batting depth to the group which has had a lot of success in T20 cricket,” said Australia’s chief selector George Bailey.

“Mitchell Swepson was unlucky to miss out based on conditions in the UAE at the last World Cup where we planned for tired, spinning wickets compared to what we would expect are good batting conditions along with the larger grounds in Australia,” Bailey was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Australia T20 World Cup squad: Aaron Finch (c), Pat Cummins (vc), Ashton Agar, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.