Chris Gayle is the single greatest T20 batter of all time and his time in the IPL was no different as he was also one of the all time greatest in IPL history. He is only one of 2 IPL batters in history to have hit 6 IPL hundreds. He was one of the greatest entertainers in cricket history. And he has retired from the IPL and is doing commentary and giving his insights into the games.
Chris Gayle played in 142 IPL Matches and in those Matches he scored 4965 runs and he hit 31 half centuries and 6 hundreds with a highest score of 175* which is still the highest score in all T20S in history. Chris Gayle has been playing since 2008 but it was in 2011 when he went to RCB that his career changed. He had a strike rate of 149 In IPL cricket.
Let’s look at the Top 5 Best IPL innings of Chris Gayle:
1) 102* vs Kolkata Knight Riders (2011)
This was his first match for RCB and it was in 2011 and from this innings his IPL career changed forever and this was his first IPL hundred as well and it came against his former IPL team which is the Kolkata Knight Riders. RCB had a target of 172 runs and he came at Eden Gardens and put on a show and he smashed the KKR bowlers to all parts as he hit 10 fours and 7 sixes in this innings meaning a total of 82 runs in boundaries alone. He had a strike rate of 186 in the innings and he won the match by 9 Wickets for RCB.
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2) 175* vs Pune Warriors (2013)
Probably the single greatest T20 Innings of all time but then a lot of people might think why this is number 2, it is because if the first hundred would have not come then RCB would have released him and then this 175* would not have happened. This innings was brutality at its very best and the Pune Warriors Bowlers had no answers to the onslaught. He absolutely destroyed them by hitting a mind boggling 175* from just 66 balls at a strike rate of 265.15. He hit 13 fours and 17 sixes in this innings meaning 154 runs in boundaries out of 175. He took RCB to their highest score of 263 in the IPL. This was an exhibition of batting at the highest caliber.
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3) 128* vs Delhi Capitals (2012)
Chris Gayle was used to hitting big hundreds and he also had a habit of not going out in his big hundreds. And this one was no different as he absolutely decimated the good Delhi Capitals bowling then and he hit 128* from just 62 balls and he had a strike rate of 207. He hit 7 hours and 13 huge sixes in this innings meaning a total of 106 runs in boundaries. RCB hit 215 runs in the first innings and they won the match by 21 runs and it was all because of Chris Gayle.
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4) 117 vs Punjab Kings (2015)
The year on year consistency of Chris Gayle was truly mind blowing because he played only one way and that was to attack and he hit hundreds against everyone in the IPL and this one was against Punjab Kings who at that time were great. RCB were batting first and Chris Gayle was at his destructive best as he hit 117 runs from 57 balls and he had a strike rate of 205 and he hit 7 fours and 12 sixes meaning a total of 100 runs in boundaries. RCB won the match by a mammoth 138 runs.
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5) 104* vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (2018)
The 5th innings in this list is the hundred he scored for Punjab Kings and it was against Sunrisers Hyderabad and he showed that he still has got it even at this old age. He was great in this innings as he took his time at first and then went bang bang at the end. He smashed 104* In 63 balls and he hit 1 four and 11 big sixes in this innings which means a total of 70 runs in boundaries. He had a strike rate of 165 in this innings and his ability to hit big sixes was truly something never seen before. Punjab Kings won this match by 15 runs.
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