A system including an implantable medical device (IMD). The IMD includes a ventricular contraction sensing circuit that provides a sensed ventricular contraction signal, a timer circuit that provides a ventricular time interval between ventricular contractions, and a controller circuit coupled to the timer circuit, the controller circuit determines the ventricular contraction rate using the ventricular time interval. The controller circuit further includes a tachyarrhythmia detection module that declares tachyarrhythmia, in response to detecting a sudden rate increase, without comparing a ventricular rate or time interval to a respective tachyarrhythmia detection rate or time interval threshold.