Tim David made a statement with the kind of late-innings destruction that defines the IPL at its most entertaining, finishing unbeaten on 70 from just 25 deliveries as Royal Challengers Bengaluru powered to 250 for 3 in their 20 overs against Chennai Super Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. RCB looked set for a big score even before David arrived, but the scale of what followed after his entry was something even the most optimistic plans couldn’t quite map out. The finishing burst came with eight maximums and three fours, and David also struck 30 runs in the penultimate over bowled by Jamie Overton, turning the final phase into a sprint.
There was also a brief scare in the middle overs when David was initially dismissed after being clean bowled by Anshul Kambojin in the 18th over. He was quickly summoned back after the third umpire ruled that the CSK pacer had overstepped, a reminder that momentum in T20 can swing in an instant—yet on this occasion, David didn’t let it change the outcome. Instead, he combined with skipper Rajat Patidar for a rapid association of 99 runs off only 35 balls, guiding the defending champions to an imposing total that proved difficult to imagine even at the halfway stage.
The 250-run mark carried additional weight because it is the highest team total ever posted against CSK in IPL history, surpassing the previous record of 231 set by Punjab Kings in an earlier edition. With the game heading into the finishing stretch, David and Patidar piled on the pressure, scoring 97 runs in the last five runs available to them, and the manner in which the boundaries kept arriving only added to the chaos around Chinnaswamy. That 97 is tied for the second-highest haul by a team in the final five overs of an IPL innings, matching the production by Delhi Capitals against Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2024 season.
RCB’s boundary count reflected the same story. They struck 19 sixes in total, which ranks as the third most by the franchise in an IPL innings, and it was also the most any team has managed against CSK, overtaking the 17 maximums previously produced by Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai in 2018 and Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah in 2020. The result underlined how effectively RCB converted their best phase into scoreboard pressure, with the chase situation likely to look daunting for any opponent once such a late surge takes hold.
With David and Patidar setting the tone, the rest of the batting lineup contributed as well. Devdutt Padikkal made it count with a 50, while Virat Kohli and Phil Salt supported the platform with scores of 28 and 46 respectively. Although it might have seemed like the captain would have to fit around David’s explosiveness, Patidar’s role was just as crucial; he remained unbeaten on 48 off 19 balls, striking 1 four and 6 sixes in the process, ensuring RCB maintained tempo even when the ball briefly looked to slow down.
One striking feature of the innings was how quiet the opening overs were for RCB, as they failed to find a single boundary or six in the first three overs. During that early period, Kohli and Salt struggled to get the timing right and the runs didn’t come quickly. However, the script changed dramatically over the middle and later stages, with RCB exploding for 19 sixes and 14 fours across the remaining 17 overs, effectively turning a slow start into a dominant finish.
At the mid-innings break, Padikkal described the situation as extremely satisfying, pointing to the conditions and the match plan needed to reach the finish line. He also noted that CSK had won the toss and chose to bowl first. Speaking about the early resistance from the new ball and how it behaved, Padikkal said the surface looked a bit tacky at the beginning and that the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat as smoothly, which meant RCB had to be careful not to lose too many wickets. He explained that in the Chinnaswamy, having wickets in hand during the final five or six overs allows a team to maximise its batting power, and that is exactly what RCB managed to do as the innings gathered momentum.
