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Tim David has been in situations like this before and has rescued his team several times. It has mainly been his role in the T20 format, regardless of the team he plays for. However, there was an aura of disbelief at Wellington’s Sky Stadium on Wednesday as David scored an unbeaten 31 off just 10 balls, including the last-ball boundary, as Australia pulled off an epic heist against the hosts in the opening T20I match. of the series. The New Zealand players looked stunned and there was silence on the field as the Australian players stood stunned, including captain Mitchell Marsh, who witnessed the hurricane hit from the other end of the box.
Chasing a mammoth 216, Australia needed 35 off the last two overs. The visitors had lost a struggling Josh Inglis a little earlier, leaving a new batsman in David to partner Marsh, who was well past his half-century mark and would likely remain the central character in the rest of the chase. But just when the game seemed to slip a little away from the Australians, after Adam Milne conceded just three runs off his first three balls in the penultimate over, David stepped up.
Standing at 6 feet 5 inches, David’s attack started on a fortunate note, where he got the tip of the bat against Milne’s wide yorker in the fourth ball of the 19th over. The boundary beyond third man reduced the equation to 28 runs required from eight balls. Now, when was the last time we heard those numbers? Virat Kohli. MCG. India versus Pakistan. Ring a bell?
Although not in exactly the same way, David achieved a Kohli. He smashed the remaining two deliveries of the 19th over for six: one bowled over the cow corner and the other over mid-wicket. But Australia were still far from the target with the experienced Tim Southee stepping up for the final where 16 runs were required.
After Marsh got David to strike again before the fourth ball, Australia, who managed just four runs off the first three balls of the final over, required 12 off the last three.
The 27-year-old then bowled Southee’s fuller for a six over fine leg before managing just two runs off the next ball. The New Zealand pacer seemed to stick to his plan of bowling another low full delivery but got his plan wrong on the final ball when David smashed the undercooked yorker at mid-wicket for a boundary. Glenn Phillips ran hard to stop the effort, but was defeated.
Early in the match, Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway both scored centuries en route to their respective fifties, as New Zealand piled up 215 for three. Marsh found capable support during the chase as he scored 72* off 44 balls, but it was David’s blitzkrieg knock that helped Australia to a six-wicket victory.
The second T20I will be played in Auckland on February 23, followed by the series final the next day at the same venue.