NEW DELHI, April 6 (Reuters) – Tim David showed exactly why Royal Challengers Bengaluru retained his services for the 2026 season with a scintillating power-hitting display for the defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions on Sunday.
The 30-year-old Australian clobbered eight sixes in his unbeaten 70 off 25 balls as Bengaluru scored a 43-run win over Chennai Super Kings to make it two wins from two.
“I’ve been getting in trouble during training with the boys,” Player of the Match David said of the six.
“We have competitions to try and hit them on the roof and we’re obviously on the side pitches. So, to get one during a match out of the middle, help it up on the roof, it was good fun.”
Bengaluru top the early-season standings with a net run rate superior to that of Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, who also began with back-to-back wins.
Bengaluru’s Rajat Patidar thumped 48 not out off 19 balls and David, who plundered 30 runs from a Jamie Overton over that included four sixes, said the captain’s approach helped set the platform for his late burst.
“Rajat was absolutely smoking it and I was taking balls off him so to be able to get us to a score and obviously put a lot of pressure on the opposition,” he added.
Chasing 251 for victory, five-time champions Chennai managed 207 before being bowled out with two balls left in their innings.
“If you look at the score, we were ahead of them up to about five overs to go,” Chennai head coach Stephen Fleming said.
“And then they just went like a rocket. So that’s really where the game was lost for us.”
It was a third straight defeat for Chennai, who slipped to the bottom of the table.
Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford
