'He's best No.6 you can have': Former spinner wants Australia to tweak rules and include Tim David in T20 team

Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has urged Cricket Australia to tweak the rules that are not allowing Tim David to be part of the Australian T20 team. The 26-year-old David has impressed the cricket fraternity with his performance in the shortest format of the game while representing different franchises in the T20 leagues around the world.

The Singapore-born cricketer recently participated in the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after being signed for Rs 8.25 crore by the five-time champions Mumbai Indians, and he scored 186 runs at a strike rate of 216.27 in eight matches. The right-handed batter has dual Singaporean and Australian citizenship, but he has yet to represent the defending World T20 champions at the international level.

To be part of the Australian team, a player has to have a first-class contract with any of the domestic teams, but David doesn’t have one, so Hogg has urged the authorities to change some rules so that David can be included in the side despite not having a state team contract. The 51-year-old former cricketer also pushed for David’s selection in the Australian squad for the 2022 edition of the Men’s T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place Down Under, by calling him the best number 6 batter around the globe.

"The other issue is that Australia has a rule that you have to be contracted with a first-class state team to represent Australia in T20Is. He (David) doesn’t have that contract. Australia has got to change that rule. You can’t have a rule as stupid as that, keeping a player like him out," Hogg said on his YouTube channel.

According to Hogg, David is an ideal candidate to bat at the death for the reigning champions in the upcoming mega event. "You bring Smith up from the lower order and open the batting with him. Stoinis comes up at No.5 and Tim David comes in at No.6. For me, around the globe, Tim David is the best No.6 that you can have. He is the only player that consistently comes in in the final four overs and finds the boundary straightaway. It is a unique talent to have and Australia has got to utilise it," Hogg added.

In his short four-and-a-half-year career, David has featured in 102 T20 matches up till now and has scored 2325 runs at an average of 34.19 and a strike rate of 164.77. He has also picked up nine wickets. The right-hander has also appeared in 14 T20I matches for Singapore.