23 April,2013 06:55 PM IST | | Ayan Roy
BREAKING NEWS: Pune Warriors have called in the fire brigade. Chris Gayle is on fire. The tall Jamaican has hit a 30-ball hundred.
Gayle has been in brilliant form this season, but his blitz against Pune Warriors in the IPL league tie surpassed all expectations.
Gayle hit 11 maximums and eight boundaries on his way to reaching the fastest-ever hundred in cricket history. He ultimately scored an unbeaten 175 off 66 deliveries, that included a record 13 fours and 17 sixes. Interestingly, 154 out of his 175 runs came in boundaries and that too off only 30 scoring strokes.
There were several records broken at Bangalore on Tuesday, with Gayle also recording the highest-ever individual score in a T20 game.
The 30-ball ton beats Yusuf Pathan's 37-ball hundred in IPL and Andrew Symond's 34-ball century in English county cricket.
The record in 50-over cricket belongs to Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, who hit a 37-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 1996. The Test record is with Sir Viv Richards, who flayed England for a 56-ball 100 in Antigua in 1986. South African Richard Levi holds the record for fastest hundred in international T20, having slammed a 45-ball century against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2011.
The previous highest individual score in T20 cricket belonged to Kolkata Knight Riders' Brendon McCullum, who hit 158 off 73 balls against RCB at the very same Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Chris Gayle wentu00a0berserk at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday scoring an unbeaten 175.
It was a massacre at the M Chinnaswamy stadium with the Royal Challengers Bangalore's opener being severe on each and every opposition bowler, taking them to the proverbial cleaners.
Gayle reached his 50 off 17 balls and then upped the ante, scoring the next 50 off just 13 balls. The West Indian then slowed down a tad, reaching 150 off 53 balls.
The 33-year-old was harshest on Pune skipper Aaron Finch, Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and rookie pacer Ishwar Pandey.u00a0There was no stopping Gayle.u00a0
Marsh went for 28 runs in one over with Gayle hitting him for four sixes and one four and repeated the feat against Finch.
Trying to stem the flow, Finch brought himself on in the 8th over, but Gayle slammed four sixes and a boundary in the over to take the team past 100.
Gayle's innings helped RCB post the the highest-ever total in any T20 game -- 263 for five.u00a0
Typically, he brought up his century with a six off Ashoke Dinda that sailed over the stadium and in the process also damaged the roof.
Gayle and his opening partner Tillekaratne Dilshan added 167 runs for the first wicket with the Sri Lankan contributing 33. Such was the ferocity of Gayle's attack that Dilshan hadn't even crossed 20 by the time Gayle reached his three-figure mark.
