Chris Gayle blows away Pune Warriors with a sensational knock:
It was an afternoon game on April 23, 2013. While it was sweltering at 3.30 PM is most parts of the country, Bangalore is still a lot cooler place – weather-wise, something which the Bangaloreans take great pride in – than the north India. So, in flocked the crowd to support the Royal Challengers Bangalore and see some of the biggest names in T20 cricket play at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, against a Pune Warriors team whose biggest name on the teamsheet was Yuvraj Singh.
By the time, RCB, batting first, had finished their innings, barely anyone would have been thinking to looking forward to watching Yuvraj, and that’s a rare thing.
Because what had transpired in a mad passage of RCB’s innings that had lasted for about 102 minutes, something that hadn’t even been conceived till then, let alone think of making it a reality.
One man, alone, a tall West Indian who doesn’t like to run much between the wicket and just wants to smoke almost every delivery out of the park brought the storm to the Pune bowlers, causing the crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium forget the heat, forget Yuvraj, forget the IT companies they work in, forget RCB’s position in the points table, forget everything – but the man: Chris Gayle.
Watch Chris Gayle’s 175* below
A batsman hitting 13 fours in a T20 game sounds good. In the same innings, the same batsman smashed 17 sixes. That sound, ermm..funny? Too good to be true? Especially in the biggest T20 league in the world with the best T20 players – including bowlers- playing in it?
Chris Gayle’s prowess and what he is capable of doing had been well-known. After all, he’d changed RCB’s season in 2012 after coming on as a replacement. But the havoc that April evening he caused was something other-worldly; unbelievable too, maybe?
This guy intimidates bowlers just by his presence. But to such an extent that Pune captain Aaron Finch felt helpless with his bowling attack which included three quality Indian seamers and an Australian all-rounder that Finch had to bring on himself to bowl his part-time off-spin for the simple reason that others had been carted around the park for economies of more than 12? Guess how many did Finch go for: 29 runs in an over! He perhaps never bowled in a high-level T20 game after that.
As for Chris Gayle, his 175* (66) knock (strike rate of 265) still stands as the highest score not just in the IPL, but all T20 professional leagues around the world. 10 years. Despite the flat pitches, small boundary stadiums, bats getting bigger, batsmen getting more powerful and muscular – that effort (and what an effort!) from Chris Gayle stands the tallest, as he does.
If you wish to relive that innings, we have got you covered.
Here: Watch Chris Gayle’s world-record 175*:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc1tFeAkcak
Aaron Finch, the Pune captain and the spinner who conceded 29 runs in an over that day, can take some solace in the fact that he’s only behind Gayle, with his knock of 172 for Australia vs Zimbabwe from 2018.