Top 5 smartest decisions taken in IPL history
These decisions have turned out to be masterstrokes, a few in matches and some over the years.
4. Royal Challengers Bangalore buy Chris Gayle ahead of the 2011 IPL season
Ahead of the 2011 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Royal Challengers Bangalore side brought in West Indian batting icon Chris Gayle as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. And, that proved to be one of the best decisions that the Bangalore franchise ever made.
In the 2011 IPL edition, Gayle smashed 608 runs at an average of 67.56 and won the Orange Cap award. In the 12 innings that he played in the fourth IPL edition, the left-hander scored three fifties and two hundreds and helped the Bangalore outfit reach the final.
He continued his incredible run in the 2012 edition of the IPL and amassed a colossal 733 runs at an average of 61.08. The left-handed batting colossus scored seven fifties and a century in the 14 innings that he played in the fifth IPL edition. In the 2013 season too, Gayle continued to decimate the bowlers. In fact, it was during the 2013 IPL season that Gayle smashed the highest ever individual score in the tournament history. Against the Pune Warriors, Gayle smashed a scintillating 66-ball 175* to power the Bangalore side to a total of 263/5 and helped them thrash the opposition by 130 runs.
In fact, Gayle has found the most success in his IPL career while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore side. In the 85 matches that he played for the Bangalore outfit, Gayle plundered 3163 runs and scored his runs at an average of 43.33. The RCB side would definitely not have regretted their decision of bringing in Gayle into their squad ahead of the 2011 IPL edition.
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