In the 15-year-long history of the Indian Premier League, there have been several historical days that have brought the audience to the edge of their seats. But none have been close to April 23, 2013, when the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru witnessed the greatest knock in the history of T20 cricket.
On a bright sunny afternoon, Pune Warriors India Captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to bowl first. Little did he know, he was going to regret his decision at the end of the game as Gayle Storm was about to hit the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Bhuvneshwar Kumar started the proceedings for Pune and gave away just three runs in the first over.
What followed after was a complete annihilation of Pune’s bowling as Gayle smacked five boundaries in the second over bowled by Ishwar Pandey to get himself going. He further clobbered 28 runs in the fifth over against Mitchell Marsh and brought up his half-century off just 17 balls.
From there on, there was no one stopping the Universe Boss as he mercilessly thrashed Pune’s bowling attack all around the park bringing them down to their knees. Seeing his bowlers being taken to the cleaners, captain Aaron Finch also decided to roll his arm over but immediately regretted his decision as he was thumped for 29 runs.
Gayle went on to score the fastest hundred in the history of IPL off just 30 balls and reached the 150-run mark in 53 balls. The southpaw finished his innings on 175* off 66 balls and etched his name with golden words in the history books of IPL.
53 – Gayle scored the fastest 150 of the IPL reaching the landmark in just 53 balls
17 – The West Indian opener scored the then-fastest fifty of the IPL off just 17 balls
30 – Gayle scored the fastest hundred in IPL history off 30 balls
30 – The southpaw smacked the most number of boundaries in IPL innings by a batter
175* – The RCB opener registered the highest individual score in the history of IPL and T20 cricket.
17 – During his breathtaking knock, Gayle launched the ball into the stands 17 times hence registering the most number of sixes in IPL innings.
263/5 – Courtesy of Gayle’s record-breaking knock, RCB posted a massive total of 263/5 in their allotted 20 overs which is the highest total recorded in the history of IPL