Chirs Gayle scored the fastest century, off just 30 balls, and the highest-ever individual score in a T20 game, as the Royal Challengers Bangalore thrashed the Pune Warriors India by a massive 130 runs in the Indian Premier League game played in Bangalore yesterday.
Gayle surpassed Kolkata Knight Riders' Brendon McCullum, who hit 158 off 73 balls against RCB at the same 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 allotted 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.
Gayle added 167 runs for the opening stand with Tillakaratne Dilshan (33).
AB de Villiers also played his part to perfection with a cameo, scoring 31 off just eight balls (3×4, 3×6).
Chasing a daunting target, Pune were reeling at 42 for 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 Jaydev Unadkat bagged two wickets each, while Murali Kartik and Vinay Kumar took one apiece.
