IPL 2026: RCB inflict bruising defeat on CSK after making 250

Defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore razed Chennai Super Kings‘ attack and the record books, in front of their beloved fans at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

After being on 91-1 in 10 overs, RCB nearly tripled that in the last 10, pushing the limits of T20 power-hitting. RCB’s 250-3 was their third-highest total in the IPL and the highest ever by any team against CSK in the league.

In response, CSK lost their top three inside three overs and eventually slid to their third successive defeat in IPL 2026.

The Chinnaswamy surface was tacky in the early exchanges, according to Devdutt Padikkal who scored 50 off 29 balls, and the outfield was unusually slow, with quite a few strong hits plugging in the outfield.

While the surface settled later in the innings, the outfield remained slow. Tim David and Rajat Patidar didn’t feel the need to hit the ball into the outfield, especially when they had the power to keep launching the ball into the night sky.

David and Patidar faced 44 balls between them and sent 14 of those disappearing over the boundary. The entire CSK batting line-up could manage only 11 sixes.

The storm

David and Patidar came together at 151-3 at the start of the 15th over after Overton had knocked Padikkal over by cranking it up to 148kph. The carnage created by David and Patidar turned out to be the story of the day.

With only 35 balls left in the innings, David took strike for 25 of those and crashed an unbeaten 70. Only one other batter has scored as many or more without facing a ball in the first 14 overs of a T20 innings (where ball-by-ball data is available).

David was particularly brutal on Overton, taking him for a sequence 6,4,6,6,6 in the 19th over that yielded 30 runs. All of those hits had the Chinnaswamy in a frenzy.

One of those even had Kohli off his seat in the dressing room and applauding David. The last of that sequence was a 106-metre monster six that disappeared out of the ground.

At the other end, Patidar had the best seat to this six-hitting show. He didn’t face a single ball for almost three overs between overs 17 and 20. In all, he faced just five balls since the 16th over.

Prior to that, he had played some special shots of his own. Like the cover-driven six off Noor Ahmad in the 12th over. Like the scythed six over the same region off a low full-toss from Khaleel four overs later. Patidar finished with an unbeaten 48 off 19 balls.

CSK go down swinging

After seeing David whack one six after another, Bhuvneshwar Kumar “wasn’t sure whether I should be happy or sad”. He had 200 reasons to be happy when he had Ayush Mhatre flapping a catch to mid-off for one by hitting an awkward, in-between length.

It was his 200th wicket in the IPL; only Yuzvendra Chahal has more wickets than him in the league.

Jacob Duffy ensured that RCB didn’t feel Josh Hazlewood’s absence once again, having both Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad caught in the slips. From 30-3, CSK went down swinging and were dismissed for 207 in 19.4 overs.

By the end of the powerplay, CSK were 77-3, with Sarfaraz Khan scoring 50 of those in 24 balls. Next ball, however, Krunal Pandya had Sarfaraz stumped.

Prashant Veer then showed some spark during his 43 off 29 balls after going two matches without bowling a single ball. His shovelled four between deep midwicket and wide long-off off a Krunal dart showed why franchises were locked in a bidding war for Veer at the auction.

Overton also made some quick runs, but his cameo could not offset the runs he had conceded to David in the 19th over of the first innings. (ESPNcricinfo)

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