When the Gayle storm hit the IPL: Remembering Chris Gayle's record 175 not out for RCB in 2013
So ruthless was Chris Gayle that the opposition team ended up scoring over 40 runs lesser than him, let alone the team that he was playing for.
It was the 31st match of the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had beaten Pune Warriors by 130 runs after which Pune coach Allan Donald walked up to RCB opener Chris Gayle with a query about what he had done in that match. "Why us?" he asked.
What Gayle did in that match has remained the single most astonishing feat of power-hitting ever witnessed in the history of T20 cricket, perhaps in all of top level cricket itself. Pune Warriors captain Aaron Finch, their third in seven games after Angelo Mathews and Ross Taylor were given the sack, had won the toss and chosen to bowl first. Gayle then chose to practically finish the match in the first innings itself, with the Pune essay reduced to nothing more than a footnote.
Gayle's assault started with back to back fours in the second over, then took a brief pause when rain interrupted the game. The break ate up half an hour before the players returned and Gayle proceeded to hit three more fours in that over, one of which was from a no ball. Hos opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan was on two runs off three at the end of that second over while Gayle had made 21 off 10.
It was only the fifth over that Gayle hit his first six, and he swiftly proceeded to add four more in that same over with a four in between. Mitchell Marsh was at the receiving end of it and 28 runs had come off that over, the most in a single over of IPL 2013. Gayle reached 50 in 17 balls off the last six, Dilshan was batting on 10 off 14. Two more sixes came in the enxt over of Ali Murtaza after which Finch brought himself to bowl. Finch only ended up surpassing the record that his Australia teammate Marsh was at the receiving end of just two overs ago, getting smashed for fpur sixes and a four and conceding a total of 29 runs. At the end of that one, Gayle had zoomed to 95 in 27. His partner Dilshan? On 11 off 22 balls.
Gayle got to his century off the 30th ball he faced in the next over, clubbing the ball out of the stadium. It remains the fastest century in the history of T20 cricket. This was followed by a period of relative calm, in which Gayle hit just two sixes and a four in four overs after which Luke Wright broke the opening stand by getting Dilshan out for 33 off 36 balls. It had cost Pune 167 runs in 13.4 overs. In the next over, Gayle resumed his fireworks, smashing Murtaza for three sixes and two fours and taking 28 runs off it as well. He got to his 150 off the last ball of the over, off just 53 balls.
Gayle would another six in the last over after this while AB de Villiers took over briefly to smash 31 runs in eight balls. The former West Indies captain was unbeaten on 175 off 66, smacking 13 fours and a whopping 17 sixes. In reply, Pune were restricted to a score 133/9 with their highest scorer being Steve Smith's modest 41 off 31. Gayle bowled the last over and went on to take two wickets in it as well.