Tim David, right, and Rajat Patidar are among the top six-hitters at RCB. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Not many batters are synonymous with the way the art of willow-wielding has exploded this Indian Premier League (IPL) quite like Tim David.

The broad-chested Aussie of gigantic frame (6’5”) has been one of the best exponents of power-hitting, scoring his 173 runs this campaign at a whopping strike-rate of 203.52. He also has more sixes than fours (14 to 12), in line with his overall IPL career (74 to 66).

But the 30-year-old, who recently became the second fastest to score 1000 IPL runs (560 balls), also felt that the Indian domestic talent has stepped up dramatically to become bold and belligerent.

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“The first part is that you have the Impact subs… you get an extra player,” said David in the lead-up to Friday’s match against Gujarat Titans here. “It is also that the depth of the domestic talent in India has improved so much and these guys come into the IPL ready to hit sixes.

“Earlier, you would need specific overseas players to be power-hitters, like Chris Gayle. But you now look at all the Indian domestic players and the international Indian players, and they all hit sixes. That’s stepped up throughout the competition.”

However, despite totals routinely going north of 200, David opined – without saying in as many words – that it was still a cat-and-mouse contest between batters and bowlers.

“Bowlers have lots of weapons in their arsenal now and are definitely a lot smarter. You’ll see the summary on the TV, they talk about where the bowlers can target and they’ve obviously graphed out where batters score quickly and what they’re weak against.

“If the bowler lands a perfect yorker, it’s going to be difficult to score off. But they know that if I’m standing down and they’re going to miss, I’m going to try and hit them for a six.”

Published on Apr 23, 2026