Bangalore, May 6 : West Indian swashbuckler Chris Gayle played one of the most destructive Twenty20 innings with a 49-ball 107 as Royal Challengers Bangalore crushed Kings XI Punjab by 85 runs in a lopsided Indian Premier League match here tonight.
Gayle single-handedly took RCB to 205 for six, IPL 4's second highest total after the home side were put into bat, with a sensational exhibition of big hitting as he butchered KXIP bowlers with nine sixes and 10 fours on a spongy M Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch.
Chasing a stiff target of 206, KXIP could score 120 for nine with none of their batsmen contributing a substantial score. All-rounder Ryan McLaren top-scored with 28 on a forgettable day for KXIP whose top five batsmen were back at the pavillion by the eighth over for just 50 runs.
Gayle also took three wickets for 21 from his quota of four overs. Sreenath Aravind was though the most successful RCB bowler with 4/14 from his four overs while captain Daniel Vettori chipped in with one wicket.
The night truly belonged to Gayle whose batting pyrotechnics left the home crowd spellbound as he went past a flurry of records.
Gayle became the first player to score two centuries in IPL history after his 55-ball 102 against Kolkata Knight Riders in his first match this year.
He recorded the fastest hundred in IPL 4, bettering Virender Sehwag's 48-ball ton against Deccan Chargers by two balls while his nine sixes today was the most in IPL 4. He has now struck 21 sixes in IPL, the most in the tournament's history, three more than Delhi captain Virender Sehwag's 18.
Out of his 107 today, Gayle score 94 runs from fours and sixes, also the most in IPL history.
RCB could not have imagined for a worse start in their chase with opener and captain Adam Gilchrist run out in the first ball of the innings bowled by Zaheer Khan as the Australian failed to beat an Asad Pathan direct hit to the wicket.
Abhishek Nayar (1) joined Gilchrist at the dressing room in the second over and danger man Paul Valthaty (21) was out in fifth over and KXIP were tottering at 28 for three by then.
Nayar shuffled across and flicked a full delivery from Aravind off the pads straight to Saurabh Tiwary at square leg while Valthaty had a soft dismissal as he edged Gayle to square leg fielder Abhimanyu Mithun. Valthaty's 21 came from 16 balls and was studded with four boundaries.
As if competing to return to the pavillion, Shaun Marsh (4) was out in the sixth over, becoming Aravind's second victim caught and bowled by the bowler.
Asking rate shot up above 12 by the eighth over and two quick wickets fell while trying to push up the scoring rate.
Sunny Singh (4) perished to Vettori, holing out to Asad Pathan near the boundary ropes to leave his side at 50 for five.
The run chase was virtually over in the ninth over when Dinesh Karthik (20) played a sweep shot and missed the line for an LBW decision to give Gayle his third wicket.
Chawla was out in the 11th over and after that there was no KXIP wickets falling till the penultimate over. But by the 15th over, the match was beyond KXIP ‘s reach as the asking rate has shot up to above 23.
With the win today, RCB jumped to fourth spot with 11 points from nine matches while KXIP remained on ninth out of 10 teams with six points from eight matches.
Earlier, Gayle played one of the most destructive innings in Twenty20 as he plundered a 49-ball 107 lashed with a record nine sixes to single-handedly take RCB to 205 for six.
Gayle and his opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan (16) kept quiet for the first three overs though both hit a four each in the first over bowled by Praveen Kumar.
Gayle launched himself with two sixes off Harris in the fourth over. Dilshan joined the party with two fours in the same over which yielded 21 runs.
Dilshan was, however, out in the next over holing out to Praveen Kumar while going for a big shot.
Gayle milked 22 runs from Praveen Kumar in the eighth over with two sixes and as many fours as he reached his fifty in just 28 balls.
The West Indian, who joined RCB midway into the IPL as replacement of injured Dirk Nannes after being overlooked by his Board for the home Pakistan series, greeted Chawla, who was introduced in the 10th over, with two sixes.
Gayle then lit up the Bangalore sky with a flurry of sixes to reach to his hundred in just 46 balls, erasing a number of records along the way.
He was out in the 15th over bowled by Piyush Chawla as his pull shot landed into the hands of Ryan Harris at deep midwicket to the relief of KXIP players. RCB were 103 for one at the halfway mark and 154 for two when Gayle was out with the scoring rate over 10 runs per over.
The departure of the West Indian saw the scoring rate dip a bit with Virat Kohli (27) out in the second ball after the fall of Gayle.
Saurabh Tiwary (13) and Asad Pathan (0) fell in consecutive balls in the 18th over bowled by Harris who, however, failed to take a hat-trict of wickets. He though removed Mohammed Kaif (3) in the last over. A B de Villiers remained not out on 27.
Harris was the most successful KXIP bowler with 3/38 from his four overs while Chawla took 2/37 from his quota of four overs. PTI
