Chris Gayle smashed the most breathtaking knock in the history of Twenty20 cricket, blasting an incredible 175 off a mere 66 balls, as Royal Challengers Bangalore crushed a hapless Pune Warriors by a record 130 runs in the Pepsi Indian Premier League.
Gayle hit the fastest century, off just 30 balls, and the highest-ever individual score in a T20 game, surpassing Kolkata Knight Riders' Brendon McCullum, who hit 158 off 73 balls against RCB at this very Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Incidentally, RCB's total of 263 for five was also the highest-ever total in any T20 game.
Chasing a T20 world record target of 264, Pune could not manage more than 133 for nine in the alloted 20 overs, paving the way for Bangalore to post the biggest IPL victory in terms of runs.
Put into bat, it was the 'Gayle Force' that blew away the Pune Warriors as the big-bodied Jamaican once again showed his power-hitting ability, striking a staggering 13 fours and 17 sixes en-route to the fastest and highest-ever T20 score. 154 out of his total runs came in boundaries and off only 30 scoring strokes.
Typically, he brought up his century with a six off Ashoke Dinda, which sailed over the stadium and in the process also damaged the roof. The carnage started from the second over, bowled by rookie paceman Ishwar Pandey. Playing his first IPL match, Pandey found out what top-level cricket was all about as Gayle hit him for five boundaries taking 21 runs of that over.
Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch got even worse treatments as they went for 28 and 29 runs in their respective overs as both were clobbered for four sixes each.
There was minimum fuss as usual in Gayle's batting as he barely had any footwork. It was just stand and deliver as the ball kept on sailing into the stands and there was little that skipper Finch could have done.
Intimidated by this mayhem, the Pune bowlers could only go through the motion. All the three changes made by Pune backfired as Pandey gave away 33 in two overs while left-arm spinner Ali Mutaza conceded 45 from his two overs.
It was Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who returned unscathed with figures of none for 23 from four overs. Marsh, who came back in place Ajantha Mendis was hammered for 56 in three overs, while the profligate Dinda went for 48 off four overs.
Gayle and Dilshan added 167 runs for the opening stand with Tillekaratne Dilshan (33).
Such was the ferocity of Gayle's onslaught that Dilshan didn't even cross 20 when Gayle reached three-figure markin front the jam-packed stadium.
AB de Villiers also played his part to perfection with a cameo, scoring 31 off just eight balls (3x4, 3x6).
Chasing a daunting target, Pune were reeling at 42 four four by the sixth over. With their main batsmen -- Robin Uthappa, Aaron Finch, Luke Wright and Yuvraj Singh -- warming the bench, it was always going to be difficult for the others to make a match out of it.
Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh added 58 runs partnership for fifth wicket, but the rest could not contribute and fell while trying to accelerate.
Smith was the top-scorer for Pune with 41 off 31 balls. He hit six boundaries.
For Bangalore Gayle, Ravi Rampaul and Jayadev Unadkat bagged two wickets each, while Murali Kartik and Vinay Kumar took one apiece.
Photograph: BCCI
