“First ball goes for 4 or 6” - ₹3 crore signing’s massive statement on Jasprit Bumrah ahead of MI vs RCB IPL 2025 match

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) hard-hitter Tim David has made a massive claim ahead of their IPL 2025 against the Mumbai Indians on Monday. David believes they must put Jasprit Bumrah under pressure early, hitting his first ball for a four or six.

Bumrah will return to competitive cricket for the first time since January as MI coach Mahela Jayawardene declared him fit for the clash on Monday. The right-arm pacer had missed the first four matches due to recovering from a back injury.

Speaking at a pre-game presser, David claimed Bumrah is an amazing bowler and it's great to see him back as the game is good when he plays. As quoted by India Today, the right-hander said:

"Yeah Bumrah’s pretty widely recognized as the best bowler going around and that's the challenge we want to have at RCB. If we're going to go deep in this tournament, we need to beat the best teams, we need to beat the best players. So, hopefully Bumrah is bowling the first over tomorrow night and the first ball goes for 4 or 6 from whoever's opening the batting for us, that'll be a statement."

"It'll be great to have him back playing in the tournament because the game's better with him in it."

David, who has also featured for the Mumbai Indians, wasn't retained by them ahead of the auction, where RCB nabbed him for ₹3 crore. He has played a couple of cameos in this edition to prop up RCB.

"You want to be challenged by the best" - Tim David ahead of RCB's clash against MI

Tim David. (Image Credits: Getty)

David also claimed how difficult Bumrah's yorkers are to get away from, but said he is equally looking forward to facing that, adding:

"I'll just try and get my toes out of the way, he's got a pretty lethal yorker. He's a brilliant bowler and when you put in big performances against the best teams, against the best players, they're the best feelings you get as a player. So you want to be challenged by the best and I'm looking forward to that."

The Royal Challengers are coming off a crushing defeat to the Gujarat Titans at home.