Royal Challengers Bengaluru posted a mammoth 250 for 3 against Chennai Super Kings at the Chinnaswamy on Sunday night and the innings will be remembered for a long time, not just because of the total but because of what Tim David did in the final overs.
The Singapore-born Australian walked in to bat in the 15th over and in 25 deliveries scored an unbeaten 70, hitting three fours and eight sixes in one of the most extraordinary death-over displays the IPL has ever seen. He missed a genuine world record by a single run and walked away with the Player of the Match award for RCB instead.
The world record Tim David nearly broke
According to ESPNcricinfo, Tim David’s 70 not out is only the second time in men’s T20 cricket, where fall-of-wicket over data is available, that a batter has scored as many runs after coming in to bat in the 15th over or later.
Only other batter to achieve that mark is Daniel Sams, who scored 71 against Sussex in 2022. One more run and David would have stood alone at the top of that list with a record that may never have been broken.
Tim David also set a new IPL record for the most runs scored in the death overs, overs 17 to 20, of a single innings, with 68 of his 70 runs coming in that final stretch. It was not just destructive hitting, it was historically destructive hitting.
How Tim David innings unfolded during RCB vs CSK match
David walked in after the fall of Devdutt Padikkal, who had already contributed a composed 50 off 29 balls to set the platform. What followed was a 25-ball assault that changed the entire trajectory of RCB’s innings.
He was given the perfect platform by captain Rajat Patidar, who was in sensational touch at the other end, an unbeaten 48 off 19 balls that Tim David himself acknowledged in his post-match comments. “The skipper Rajat was absolutely smoking and I was taking balls off him. So to be able to get us to a score and put a lot of pressure on the opposition, it was super fun,” Tim David said at the presentation.
The partnership between the two in the final five overs was something else entirely and it is what took RCB from a good total to an almost unreachable one.
Also READ: 6 reasons CSK fell short against RCB: Top-order collapse to costly no-balls
The result vs CSK and what it means for RCB
CSK never really threatened the target of 251. Sarfaraz Khan hit a fine 50 off 25 balls but the five-time champions finished on 207, falling 43 runs short in what was ultimately a comprehensive victory for the defending champions.
RCB now have two wins from two games this season, having also chased down 202 against SRH in their opener, and are building exactly the kind of early momentum that title-winning campaigns are made of.
For Tim David personally, the innings was a statement of what he can do when he is in full flow and given the platform to express himself. One run short of a world record, but an IPL record in the books and a Player of the Match award to show for it, not a bad evening’s work.
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