There are certain knocks in cricket that can leave even the spectators exhausted due to the sheer excitement they pack in a short period of time.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle has been known to plunder bowlers all over the world when he starts putting bat to leather. And seven years ago, Pune Warriors bowlers learnt how devastating the left-handed batsman can be at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
Opening the innings for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gayle opened his account on the third ball and hit two boundaries of Ishawar Pandey’s next over before rain interrupted play. After about a 30-minute break, the West Indian began from where he left as he scored three more boundaries before the over was completed.
He scored 29 runs off the fifth over from Mitchell Marsh and then took Ali Murtaza and Aaron Finch to the cleaners in the next two over. He hit four sixes off Finch on the on-side and completed his century in just 30 balls with a six off Ashoke Dinda to break Andrew Symonds’ record of fastest cricket ton in 34 balls.
Gayle slowed down a little after the ton, scoring 75 runs off the remaining 36 deliveries he played. He scored a record total of 17 sixes during the 66-ball knock and helped RCB put together a record total of 263 for 5 while himself claiming the record of the highest T20 total with an unbeaten score of 175.
He then came back to claim two wickets for just five runs to complete the misery of Pune Warriors’ players as they lost to match by 130 runs.