Chris Gayle is arguably the greatest batter in the history of the Indian Premier League. That’s how good the batter from the West Indies was in the league. When at his prime, Gayle was totally destructive and took batting in T20s to a whole new level. Since then, hardly a few batters have managed to create the aura which Gayle was able to do. In fact, even Gayle could not match the heights.
For Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gayle was a beast. The Southpaw consistently demolished the bowling attacks, irrespective of how good they were. Irrespective of the support from the other end, Gayle did his job day in and day out. Some of the greatest knocks in the IPL have come from Gayle’s blade. Here are the top 3 knocks of Gayle in the history of the IPL.
1. 175*(66) Against PWI in 2013
It has been 10 years since Gayle played the knock. But no batter has managed to break the record of the highest T20 score ever. To think that Gayle was once struggling to score on the day and then went on to score a hundred in just 30 balls, and eventually scored an unbeaten 175*(66) still makes the fans go wow. It was a devastating knock.
The knock of Gayle had 13 fours and 17 sixes. 154 out of 175 runs scored by Gayle came from the boundaries alone. Barring Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Luke Wright, all the bowlers had an economy of over 12 in the match. RCB registered a score of 263 runs in their 20 overs and won the match by 130 runs. It remains one of the greatest knocks in the history of the IPL and T20s.
2. 128*(62) vs DD in 2012
It was the 17th match of the IPL 2012 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils. On a good wicket in Delhi, RCB batted first and posted a mammoth total of 215 runs for the loss of just a wicket. Gayle scored an unbeaten 128*(62), which included 7 fours and 13 sixes. It came at a strike rate of 206.45, where other batters could not get going easily.
All the bowlers from the lineup of Delhi conceded over 9.5 runs per over. The likes of Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Pawan Negi, and Andre Russell were all taken to cleaners. Only one bowler, Varun Aaron, managed to claim a wicket. RCB won the match by 21 runs. It was complete domination from Gayle and RCB.
3. 117(57) against PBKS in 2015
It was in M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore in 2015. Batting first against Punjab Kings, RCB scored a mammoth total of 226 runs in their 20 overs. Gayle, as usual, was the star of the show. The opener scored runs for fun and dominated the bowling attack. The opener was at his best and hit fours and sixes at will. It was a typical Gayle knock.
In 57 balls, Gayle scored 177 runs, which came at a strike rate of 205.26. The knock of the Southpaw had 7 fours and 12 huge sixes. The bowling attack of Punjab Kings was good and had the likes of Axar Patel, Sandeep Sharma, Anureet Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, and Karanveer Singh. RCB defeated Punjab by 138 runs, as they dismissed the chasing side for just 88 runs.
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