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) champion 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.

In ‌an innings of huge hits, David drew gasps with a monstrous 106m strike that landed on ‌the roof of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

“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 tops 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 champion Chennai Super Kings managed 207 before being bowled ​out with two balls left in its innings.

“If you look at the score, we were ⁠ahead of them up to about five overs to go,” ⁠CSK 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 Super Kings, which slipped to the ​bottom of the table.

Published on Apr 06, 2026