FACT CHECK: Was Tim David in RCB Before Joining Mumbai Indians?

Australia batter Tim David had made his Indian Premier League debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore back in the day. While as many as six teams had expressed interest in the hard-hitting batter, RCB didn’t even try bidding for him during IPL 2022 mega auction.

David, who became Mumbai Indians‘ costliest overseas buy in the auction at the time, saw Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals fighting it out for him before MI sealed the deal for INR 8.25 crore. The fact that the franchise spent lavishly on David even when they had only INR 11.6 crore in their purse speaks highly of their faith in his big-hitting skills.

Hence, Mumbai’s owners would be jumping for joy on a night when the right-handed batter hit Royals all-rounder Jason Holder for three consecutive sixes in the final over to seal a record 213-run chase at the Wankhede Stadium tonight.

Was Tim David in RCB Before Joining Mumbai Indians?

It was before the second phase of IPL 2021 in the UAE when Royal Challengers had signed David for his base price of INR 20 lakh.

David, who hadn’t played for Australia at the time, had joined the squad amid the COVID-19 pandemic as a replacement player for New Zealand opening batter Finn Allen. Been with the franchise since 2021, Allen is still awaiting an IPL debut at Bangalore.

Tim David RCB Stats

It is worth mentioning that David had played only a solitary match for Bangalore in IPL 2021. Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the 18th over against Chennai Super Kings in Sharjah, David had to depart for 1 (3) after he mis-timed a Deepak Chahar delivery to Suresh Raina in the following over.

Astonishingly, RCB neither handed another opportunity to the Singapore-born cricketer throughout the season nor retained him before IPL 2022 auction.

If truth be told, acquiring a player’s services again in an auction is no mean task primarily because of the auction dynamics. Reasons such as team combination, purse, number of overseas players etc. play a big role in any franchise opting to not re-buy a player whom they had released before the auction.