Tim David, known for his big-hitting exploits, set the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 on fire, as he played an unbeaten 70-run knock off just 25 balls to help the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) post 250/3 in the 20 overs against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. At one stage, RCB looked set to breach the 200-run mark, but no one could have anticipated or expected the carnage that would follow after the entry of David.
In his 70-run knock, David hammered eight sixes and three fours. He also scored 30 runs in the penultimate over, bowled by Jamie Overton. The 30-year-old also rode some luck as he was clean bowled by Anshul Kambojin the 18th over, however, David was quickly called back to the middle as the third umpire confirmed that the CSK pacer had overstepped.
David also stitched together a quickfire stand of 99 runs off just 35 balls with RCB skipper Rajat Patidar to help the defending champions post 250 runs on the board. It is also worth noting that this score is the highest total against CSK in the IPL, beating the previous best of 231, set by Punjab Kings (erstwhile Kings XI Punjab).
In the last five runs, David and Patidar managed to score 97 runs, and it was some truly crazy hitting at the Chinnaswamy. 97 is the joint-second-most runs scored by a team in the final five overs in an IPL innings, alongside Delhi Capitals against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024 season.
The RCB hit a total of 19 sixes, the third most by the team in an IPL innings, and the most for any team against CSK, surpassing 17 each by the Kolkata Knight Riders (Chennai, 2018) and Rajasthan Royals (Sharjah, 2020).
How did the others perform?
Earlier, Devdutt Padikkal also chipped in with a 50-run knock while Virat Kohli and Phil Salt scored 28 and 46, respectively. One would assume that skipper Patidar would have played second fiddle to David, but that wasn’t the case as he remained unbeaten on 48 off 19 balls with 1 four and 6 sixes.
It would be crazy to know that RCB failed to hit a single boundary or six in the first three overs of the game as Kohli and Salt struggled to time the ball. However, the last 17 overs saw some crazy hitting as RCB hit a total of 19 sixes and 14 fours.
At the mid-innings break, Padikkal said he was extremely happy with the total. It is worth noting that CSK had won the toss and opted to bowl first.
“I think it was a bit tacky early on, especially with the new ball wasn’t coming on that well and we have to make sure that we don’t lose too many wickets. We understand that in the Chinnaswamy, if we have wickets in hand in the last five, six overs, we can really maximize and that’s what we did,” he told the broadcaster.
