Chris Gayle was on 27 when he was dropped first in the third over of the match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. He was again dropped when he was batting on 53. And after missing these two opportunities to get a batsman of Gayle’s calibre out, the Kings had to pay heavily. Eventually, it cost the Kings dearly as records were decimated.
Gayle made one of the fastest centuries in the IPL history off just 46 balls. He also became the fourth batsman to score 3,000 runs in the IPL history. He is also the first batsman to score 20 runs off Mitchell Johnson’ over in T20. This was also his fifth hundred in IPL.
The West Indies’ explosive batsman also struck altogether 221 sixes in the IPL history. He still remains the only batsman to hit 200 plus sixes in IPL. Gayle also shared an important opening stand of 119 with Virat Kohli to take RCB’s score to 226 for three.
In reply, Kings lost the match by record margin of 138 runs. It was supposed to be a cake-walk for RCB in this match. But after the Gayle Storm happened, the Kings were completely destroyed. Even the club bowlers aren’t treated like this.
It was only Anureet Singh who managed to give away only 25 runs from his quota of four overs, otherwise, all their bowlers doled out runs as if they were playing a charity match.
With the bat, the Kings were even worse. Axar Patel, who is a bowler first, was the highest scorer for his team. For RCB, Mitchell Starc continued to perform like the most dangerous bowler in the world. He was well supported by local hero Sreenath Aravind.
They both took four wickets apiece. It was practically a dream match for the home team. This big win will not only keep RCB going strongly in the tournament, but will also enable them to perform better in the business end of the IPL.
As far as the Kings are concerned, they will have to erase the memories of this match from their minds sooner than later.
