Chennai Super Kings’ cup of woes overflowed at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday as Royal Challengers Bengaluru handed the five-time IPL champion a 43-run defeat.

After a Tim David-inspired RCB set a daunting 251-run target, the visitors folded for 207 to lose three out of three this season.

The Men in Yellow never recovered from 30 for three, and the fact that four of its top-five fell for single-digit scores told the story.

A seventh-wicket partnership worth 57 runs between Prashant Veer (43, 29b, 6×4, 1×6) and Jamie Overton (37, 16b, 4×4, 2×6) was only mildly threatening.

Sarfaraz Khan (50, 25b, 8×4, 2×6) displayed the most intent, but once he was out stumped to a Krunal Pandya delivery that held its line, whatever little hope CSK had went up in smoke.

Earlier, an unchanged RCB that was asked to bat first was undeterred by the sluggish pitch and an equally sluggish outfield.

Tim David scored an unbeaten 70 off just 25 balls. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

Just 11 runs came from the first two overs and it took until the fourth for the first hit to the boundary. But like a champion skier on a smooth downward slope, RCB ramped up its run-making speed in astonishing fashion.

Phil Salt (46, 30b, 3×4, 2×6) and Virat Kohli (28, 18b, 2×4, 1×6) accumulated runs at a strike-rate in the 150s; Devdutt Padikkal (50, 29b, 5×4, 2×6) in the 170s; captain Rajat Patidar (48 n.o., 19b, 1×4, 6×6) in the 250s before David (70 n.o., 25b, 3×4, 8×6) took it up to a scarcely believable 280!

The 15th over that Overton bowled saw just two runs being conceded and the clean-striking Padikkal excised. But that fleeting moment of calm was followed by the Patidar-David storm which racked up 97 runs from the last five overs.

The most potent catalyst came in the 17th over, bowled by tweaker Noor Ahmad, wherein David smashed three sixes off three bad half-trackers. In the 18th, David was bowled around his legs by Anshul Kamboj only for it to be no-ball. The ensuing free-hit, unsurprisingly, went soaring over mid-on.

Overton’s 19th went for 30 runs, with David carting four maximums, including one that went over square-leg and out of the stadium. It was enough to beat the living daylights out of CSK.

Published on Apr 05, 2026