Chris Gayle played one of the most attacking Twenty 20 innings on 23rd April 2013 in the Indian Premier League. In a violent onslaught at Bangalore’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, he romped to the highest T20 score of 175 against a hapless Pune Warriors team. The universal boss has scored 21 T20 hundred in his career till now and this one remained his fastest. He scored this only in 30 balls with 17 sixes and 13 fours.
His dominance in that match is clear from his contribution to the opening partnership of 167, where he contributed 127. After a sedate start, Gayle geared up and started hitting from the very second over which went for 21 runs. After that, there was no looking back for Gayle. Fifth over went for 28, seventh over for 18, eighth over for 29 and ninth for 15 runs. By tenth over his team, Royal Challengers Bangalore were standing at 128 without loss. By the time, Gayle reached his hundred and out of the 103 scored in 30 balls, 98 were of boundaries, eight fours, and 11 sixes.
None of the Pune bowlers was spared. Ishwar Pandey conceded runs at an economy rate of 16.50, Ashok Dinda at 12, Mitchell Marsh at 18.66, Ali Murtaza at 22.50, and Aaron Finch’s one over went for 29. It was like a nightmare for them.
Gayle’s 17 sixes were a record at that point; later he himself broke it with his innings of 146 for Rangpur Riders in Bangladesh Premier League where he hit 18 sixes. There is a sufficient reason why he is called the universal boss.
Along with Gayle AB de Villiers also played a cameo of 31 runs off eight balls and RCB ended with 263 for the loss of five wickets, the highest team total in an IPL match. Pune Warriors were never in the hunt as they succumbed to 133 for nine. Interestingly, the 20th over was given to the hero of the day, Chris Gayle who came to bowl and duly took the wickets of Ali Murtaza and Ishwar Pandey to finish the match with two wickets.
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Watch the highlights of the match here
