On the night before RCB took on CSK, the Chinnaswamy atmosphere was familiar in one crucial way: the sound of bat meeting ball. In a routine training session, the franchise leaned into what has become a signature routine—time for their top order to get their basics in, followed by the showpiece powerwork from Tim David and Romario Shepherd. The two hitters took turns against practice deliveries, sending balls flying into open space and keeping multiple pockets of spectators in the stands fully engaged. The session, lasting roughly half an hour, featured repeated clearances of the boundary—an exercise that highlights how modern six-hitting is built through repetition, not just timing.
Key takeaways
- RCB’s pre-match practice focused on power hitting, with Tim David and Romario Shepherd taking the lead in the session.
- David’s next-day Man of the Match came after a 25-ball 70 that included eight sixes, including one that cleared the roof and went outside the stadium.
- In the match, RCB swung momentum decisively during the final five overs of their innings, scoring 97 in that period with David and Rajat Patidar central to the surge.
- CSK attempted to contain David with yorkers, but several missed lengths became his easiest scoring zones—five of his eight sixes landed between long on and long off.
- RCB’s “balls per six” figure stands at 6.7 so far, which is far better than the 13-run tournament average, as early IPL 2026 numbers continue to favour the champions.
Powerwork at Chinnaswamy: David and Shepherd set the tone
As the session progressed, the venue’s emptiness only made the impact of each shot stand out more clearly. Fans or onlookers who had found seats were drawn in not just by the distance of the hits, but by the sheer frequency—an onslaught of “thuck” echoes across the ground. With several people stationed across different stands, the practice remained lively throughout, largely because both David and Shepherd repeatedly cleared the fence from corner practice wickets. The rhythm was the point: the two hitters came in and out of the action, with each aiming to shape clean contact and launch over the boundary as a deliberate craft.
By the rough estimate of those present, the pair would have sent the ball beyond the ropes at least a dozen times each during the half-hour session. The idea was simple to understand: multiply that kind of repetition across a whole week of training, and you get a clear picture of why sixes today are increasingly treated as a trained skill rather than an accidental by-product of one lucky stroke.
David’s “roof” moment and the message behind it
David carried the same theme into the next day’s conversation after picking up his Man of the Match award. His match knock was 70 off 25 balls, featuring eight sixes. One of those went over the roof and beyond the stadium boundary, a hit that only underlined the routine he has been building. He joked about how practice has gotten him “in trouble” with the training staff—because the side pitches and internal contests have been designed specifically to help them target difficult areas like the roof. The delight for him, though, was seeing that work translate during the actual pressure of a match, especially when Jamie Overton was bowling at a quicker pace during that phase.
He explained that getting one “out of the middle” that also flies to the roof is the kind of payoff players chase—especially when the bowler is sharp and the conditions demand execution rather than luck. The humour in his comments reflected the method: practice competitions to hit the roof, then confidence to repeat it in a game situation.
From training to impact: David and Patidar steer RCB in the closing overs
On Saturday, David enjoyed the practice battle with Shepherd, one half of RCB’s pure-power combination. However, the following day’s match shifted the emphasis. Even as he kept striking with authority—smacking sixes himself—it became Rajat Patidar who had to operate as a support act while David took the lead role in terms of destructive impact.
The decisive turnaround arrived in the batting innings’ closing stretch. The last five overs saw RCB pile up 97 runs, with both David and Patidar contributing heavily. That surge, as CSK’s captain and coach later acknowledged, is where the contest effectively swung in RCB’s favour. It wasn’t only a one-off burst; the match followed the blueprint suggested by the training ground—power executed with purpose, not surprise.
CSK’s plan misfired: missed yorkers and a familiar hitting arc
Sunday brought David a dose of luck as well. CSK tried to use yorkers as the primary weapon, but the execution didn’t quite land on the right lengths. Several deliveries missed their target and ended up in a scoring lane that is difficult to defend against for a hitter of David’s calibre. As a result, five of his eight sixes came in the “V” area between long on and long off—an established hitting arc that naturally suits his strengths.
The type of power that David produced didn’t just register on the scoreboard; it triggered the kind of admiration that teammates can’t ignore. Devdutt Padikkal, who has also increased his strike rate in T20 cricket, summed up what he sees every day: David is not merely capable of hitting far, he looks to hit for six on nearly every ball he faces. Especially when he arrives to bat in the game’s later stages, his role becomes clear—attack with intent, and repeat it with confidence. Padikkal described it as an outcome of practice and of David’s belief in the specific areas he wants to attack.
Only his second IPL fifty, but a statement in a winning cause
David’s innings carried a wider significance beyond the individual numbers. It was only his second fifty in IPL cricket, and it marked the first time he had received Man of the Match in a winning effort. With credit to the variety of crucial cameos he had shown in the previous season, this knock stood out as a moment that firmly underlined his lasting presence in RCB’s recent “sixy” turn of fortunes. The message from the match was straightforward: at the moment, nobody within RCB is hitting sixes better than him, and in IPL 2026 so far, nobody across the competition has been more effective with the bat in terms of launching boundaries.
Early tournament numbers underline RCB’s six-hitting efficiency
There is still plenty of cricket to come in the season, and RCB have played both of their matches at home so far. Even so, the early figures tell a clear story. Their balls-per-six rate currently sits at 6.7, compared with an overall tournament average of 13. Hitting close to double the usual frequency of sixes gives RCB a sense of momentum that opponents can’t afford to ignore. With defending champions status in play, the implications are obvious: the league has to treat their power-hitters as a consistent threat, not a one-match phenomenon.
In that context, David’s nickname becomes symbolic rather than literal. He is framed as the Goliath of this change—an embodiment of how RCB’s approach to power is evolving, and how that evolution is showing up in matches, not just in practice.
With stat inputs from Roshan Gede
