April 23 was the day back in 2013 when Chris Gayle unleashed the ‘Gayle Storm’ in that year’s edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Gayle hit a world record century against the Pune Warriors India (PWI) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Gayle demolished the PWI attack to all parts of the ground on the way to a still world record 175* in 66 balls with 17 sixes and 13 boundaries to his name. RCB went onto make 263/5 in 20 overs. In reply, Pune Warriors could only manage to score 133/9 with Gayle picking up two wickets for just five runs as the homes side defeated the visitors by a massive 130-run margin.
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Not only was 175* a world record score, but during this innings, Chris Gayle also scored the fastest century of all time in the history of cricket, which came in just 30 balls. He broke the record of Andrew Symonds, who had made a 34-ball century in 2004.
The previous fastest hundred in IPL history was Yusuf Pathan’s 37-ball effort against Mumbai Indians.
The fastest ODI ton is in 31 balls and was scored by AB de Villiers, which came against the West Indies in 2015 and the fastest Test ton came in 54 balls from the bat of Brendon McCullum in his 101st and final Test match.
Gayle has an astonishing record in IPL with 4484 runs in 125 matches with 6 centuries and 28 half-centuries to his name with an average of 41.13 and strike-rate of 151.02. He has hit 326 sixes and 369 fours in the tournament so far.
Catch up on his amazing century here:
