23rd April 2013 – Gaylestorm hits Bangalore, sweeps away Pune Warriors

There are a few players in every sport that people would pay to watch. These are players who are the torchbearers of the game. These are the players who define a game to such an extent that one recognises the game through their faces and names. These are players who, on their day, would put doubts in the mind of viewers as to whether a sport is a team game. If ever there was a name that defined T20 cricket, it would be Chris Gayle. When Gayle is in the mood, the opposition does not stand a chance. Beyond the ability to win the game for his team singlehandedly, Gayle would destroy the opposition mentally to such an extent that a comeback would seem an impossibility. Pune Warriors, found that out first hand.

The capacity crowd that had turned up at the Chinnaswamy on a Tuesday afternoon would have been expectant of entertainment, but what they got was something they would not have imagined in their wildest dreams. The first over passed by undramatically. With dark clouds looming large over the Chinnaswamy, Gayle was in no mood to be mucking around. Two boundaries each on either side of a short rain delay had signalled his intent. When Mitchell Marsh was handed the ball to bowl the fifth over for Pune Warriors, little did he know that he was going to be the first of several victims at the hands of the marauding West Indian. 6,6,4,0,6,6 the over’s numbers read. 

While at the other end Dilshan was struggling to get Gayle back on strike, Gayle must have felt it was important for him to make the most of his strike. His second victim, the left arm spinner, Ali Murtaza. 18 runs came off that over bowled by the spinner from Uttar Pradesh. Pune skipper Aaron Finch looked around and decided he had to take the responsibility of bowling to Gayle himself. No one was putting up their hands to envisage a go at Gayle. Dilshan took a single off the very first ball, Finch must have grimaced to himself. The next five balls of the over - 6,6,4,6,6. RCB had crossed the 100 mark in 8 overs. Gayle had score 95 of the 109 runs, Dilshan had hardly contributed anything except fist bumping Gayle after every six.

154 of Gayle’s 175 runs came in boundaries as the Caribbean King broke McCullum’s record for the highest IPL score

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As if Gayle needed any further incentive to go big, Ashoke Dinda bowled a no-ball which Dilshan worked away for a single. Gayle was on 96 off 29 balls and he had a free hit. Christmas had come early. A full toss was deposited out of the stadium. Gayle had beaten the Yusuf Pathan’s record of the fastest hundred in IPL history comfortably by 7 balls. He fell to his knees and thanked the Bengaluru crowd.

Pune had to wait till the 14th over to taste success. Dilshan was dismissed for 33, but Gayle’s innings had more than made up for his shabby strike rate. It had been a while since Gayle had gone berserk in a single over. Ali Murtaza must have cursed his luck when Kohli took a single off the first ball and Murtaza had to look Gayle in the eye again. The result from the next 5 balls of the over - 4,6, Wd,6,4,6. Ali Murtaza ended the day with 45 runs against his name in his two overs. The last six of the over brought up Gayle’s 150. Kohli’s dismissal brought no relief to the Pune bowlers as it only brought out AB De Villiers to the centre. 

By the end of the innings, there were no more words left to be written, because they did not make sense anymore. It was as if the boundary ropes, just like the words which were being used to describe the onslaught had lost its purpose. Gayle went past McCullum’s record of 158* at the same venue and wiped out the unwanted record against RCB. The team total stood at 263/5. A total which would be considered respectable in an ODI, let alone a T20 game. 175 of those runs came from the bat of Chris Gayle, an astounding total of 154 of those had come in boundaries.

RCB bowlers had plenty to defend, but could not rest on the laurels of the batting effort. Robin Uthappa was dismissed off the second ball of the innings top-edging a reverse sweep off Murali Karthik. The rain threatened to give Pune a glimmer of hope through Duckworth-Lewis method, and Finch blazing away for the away side. But, once the clouds cleared, Pune had no choice but to keep going for the total, and kept losing wickets in the process. Bangalore bowlers delivered a professional performance with the ball. Chris Gayle even picked up a couple of wickets to wrap up the Pune innings. The 9 wickets were shared between all the six bowlers who rolled their arm over. Pune had been trounced by 130 runs.