West Indian swashbuckler Chris Gayle played one of the most destructive Twenty20 innings with a 49-ball 107 as Royal Challengers Bangalore crushed Kings XI Punjab by 85 runs in a lopsided Indian Premier League match here on Friday.
Gayle single-handedly took RCB to 205 for six, IPL 4's second highest total after the home side were put into bat, with a sensational exhibition of big hitting as he butchered KXIP bowlers with nine sixes and 10 fours on a spongy M Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch.
Chasing a stiff target of 206, KXIP could score 120 for nine with none of their batsmen contributing a substantial score. All-rounder Ryan McLaren top-scored with 28 on a forgettable day for KXIP whose top five batsmen were back at the pavilion by the eighth over for just 50 runs.
Gayle also took three wickets for 21 from his quota of four overs. Sreenath Aravind was though the most successful RCB bowler with 4/14 from his four overs while captain Daniel Vettori chipped in with one wicket.
The night truly belonged to Gayle whose batting pyrotechnics left the home crowd spellbound as he went past a flurry of records.
Gayle became the first player to score two centuries in IPL history after his 55-ball 102 against Kolkata Knight Riders in his first match this year.
He recorded the fastest hundred in IPL 4, bettering Virender Sehwag's 48-ball ton against Deccan Chargers by two balls while his nine sixes today was the most in IPL 4. He has now struck 21 sixes in IPL, the most in the tournament's history, three more than Delhi captain Virender Sehwag's 18.
Out of his 107 today, Gayle score 94 runs from fours and sixes, also the most in IPL history.
Chris Gayle once again on Friday did what he has been doing since he joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore, plundering runs for his franchise. The Caribbean batsman took the attack to the opposition despite losing Tillakaratane Dilshan early against the Kings XI Punjab.
Earlier, in a must-win encounter against the Kings XI Punjab, skipper of the home side Royal Challengers Bangalore - Daniel Vettori - lost the toss and was asked to bat by Adam Gilchrist at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
Both the sides are languishing in the bottom half of the points table and a win here would do a world of good to their confidence for the rest of the must-win games in the tournament.
Gilchrist, who thought that the tinge of green on the wicket would aid movement early on, included medium-pacers Ryan McLaren and Love Ablish into the squad, while Bangalore chose to give young Asad Pathan another opportunity to prove himself.
