‘Could’ve gotten a 200 if not for AB de Villiers’ show’- Chris Gayle on his 175* in IPL 2013

Chris Gayle can muscle any bowling attack on his day and it was evident from the way he once treated the Pune Warriors in the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). On April 23 that year, he plundered a 66-ball 175, which remains as the highest individual score in the T20 league. Playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), he hammered 13 fours and as many as 17 sixes.

Apart from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who went for 23 in four overs, Gayle took every other bowler to the cleaners at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The hosts went on to notch 263 on the board, winning by a mammoth 130 runs. Going down the memory lane, Gayle said that after assessing the conditions, he felt that the team should be looking for a score around 170 and 180.

“I remember after facing the first couple of overs, rain interrupted the game,” Gayle was quoted as saying on the chat show Open Nets with India cricketers Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul.

I was in that flow, that rhythm: Chris Gayle

In the end, he ended up, surprising himself after ending up with his individual score. However, the 40-year-old also reckons that he could’ve gotten a double century if AB de Villiers didn’t come to the party in the death overs.

De Villiers came to bat with 22 balls left in the RCB innings. At that point in time, Gayle was batting on 155 and still needed 45 runs to reach the milestone. But ABD churned out 31 off eight with three fours and as many sixes, keeping Gayle away from the strike.

“I went inside and Ravi Rampaul was there in the team at that time as well. And I said to Rampaul, ‘That wicket outside is a real belter. We need to get at least 170-180 to actually give ourselves a chance at winning the game.’ Because the wicket was so good,” he stated.

“I was in that flow, that rhythm. Sometimes as a batsman you know that you cannot do anything wrong and that was one of the days. It was remarkable and so funny that I end up with 175 and I was saying that should be the team total. I could have got 200 if ABD didn’t come in and steal the show as well,” the Jamaican added.