IPL 2018: Finest Innings by Chris Gayle in IPL

Christopher Henry Gayle, or Chris Gayle as he is popularly known, has always had the reputation of a fiery batsman. A hard hitter capable of sending loose deliveries for sixes out of the park. From the adamant of T20 cricket, Chris Gayle has lived up to this reputation, managing to play remarkable innings for whoever he’s played with, whichever team he has been a part of.

IPL is no different. Over the years, we’ve seen him score not just centuries, but break records and providing more than just a few entertaining innings. He holds the records for the highest number of centuries in IPL, having scored 5 of them.

As he prepares to pad up for Kings XI Punjab this time, leaving the Royal Challengers Bangalore, we bring you some of his finest knocks in IPL:

1. 175* (66 balls) vs Pune Warriors, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzpaDV3FmbM

Not just Gayle’s best innings, this was far by IPL’s best innings so far. It was unlike any other thing that the spectators had seen. Batting for RCB in 2013, he destroyed Pune Warriors’ bowling attack, scoring 175 of a mere 66 balls at a strike rate of over 260. The score is still the highest individual score in T20 cricket. His half century came off a mere 17 balls and only took 13 more balls to reach his 30 ball century. During the mighty innings, he scored 13 fours and 17 sixes. He equaled the IPL record for the fastest half century and took over the record for the most sixes in an innings and the fastest century in IPL.

Read: Best finishers in IPL

2. 102* (55) vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 2011

2011 was a dreadful year at first for Gayle. He was not picked up by any team in the auctions and had written off participating in IPL entirely. He was dropped from the international team as well. He had gone months without hitting a ball in the nets.

All of this changed when he was called by RCB to replace one of the injured players in the squad. RCB had already lost four matches on the trot when Gayle decided to come to the party. He scored an unbeaten century while chasing 171 made by KKR. It was his first century in the IPL. En route his century, he scored 10 fours and 7 sixes thus announcing his return to IPL and T20 cricket.

3. 128* (62) vs DD, 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk85Og93LeA

In this innings, Gayle held on to a magnificent partnership of 204 runs with Virat Kohli to score his first century of the 2012 season and 3rd overall. In this particular innings, Gayle took some time to take off. He scored his 1st run in his 9th ball and had no sixes to his name until the 6th over. He allowed Kohli to take the alpha role until the 13th over where he decided to pitch in as well. There was no stopping him afterwards. He finished with a massive 128* off just 62 balls, the innings comprising of 13 sixes and 7 fours. Thats more than 100 runs in mere boundaries. RCB scored 79 runs in the first 10 overs, but a massive 136 in the rest 10.

4. 117 (84) vs Kings XI Punjab, 2015

In another dominating performance, Gayle got off to a frantic start scoring 20 runs in the second over of the match bowled by Mitchell Johnson. The third over was no different with another 20 runs scored by the mighty Gayle. He finished with 12 sixes and 7 fours, taking RCB to 226/3. This was his 5th century in IPL.