Chris Gayle's Top 5 special performances

Chris Gayle hammering PWI

2. 317 vs South Africa (Sir Vivian Richards Trophy, Antigua, 2005)

This was another special effort by Gayle. South Africa had put up a brilliant show with 4 players scoring tons and posting 588 as their first innings total taking a day and a half to make the runs. Gayle walked in, totally indifferent to the enormity of the task at hand, gave what he had to give and got out when the team score was 512. Take that for a single man reply to a gigantic total. Gayle played himself in initially and after he had established himself, played an elegant innings, reaching his first triple ton. He struck 37 boundaries. He resumed play after an overnight score of 185, and played steadily to reach his triple ton, unlike the previous day where he scored at almost a run-a-ball.

There were 3 other centurions as well, and WI ended their reply at 747. The match had run out of time to produce a result and the Man of the Match was a fairly easy call once again.

1. 175* and 2/5 vs Pune Warriors India (IPL, Bangalore, 2013)

This was by far the most destructive, breath-taking, and entertaining batting performance of the IPL across all its editions. Gayle hit 17 sixes and 13 boundaries, and scored a total of 175 not out, taking a mere 66 deliveries to rip apart a clueless Pune Warriors attack, which was all over the place. He smashed Finch for 29 in an over, Marsh for 28 in his over, and Murtaza for 45 in his two. Nobody had an answer to his power-packed hitting of the cricket ball. The other batsmen were only too happy to give him the strike, with only Dilshan and de Villiers getting into their 30s in a total of 263 that the Challengers posted. His sixes went to all corners of the park, and a couple of them cleared the roof too. The crowd earned back their ticket money many times over.

Many records were shattered. Gayle scored the fastest century (30 balls), struck the highest number of sixes and achieved the highest individual score in the format.

As if this carnage wasn’t enough, Gayle ended the day by claiming 2 wickets in his first and the innings’ last over. The match belonged to him and him alone. He played, everyone else watched. PWI lost by a 130 runs what was an entirely forgettable match for them.