IPL 2016: Chris Gayle finally comes into form, scores 19th IPL half century, celebrates with "Champion Dance"

It was a long long wait for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Their trusted lieutenant, Christopher Henry Gayle, had not fired yet in this edition of the IPL. It was so unlike Gayle who is known to bring the famed “Gayle storm” along wherever he goes to play. The fact that the crowds were so used to seeing Gayle in his pomp every season also added some extra pressure on him.

The West Indian, who didn't fire in the first few games of this season went back home to the Caribbean to be with his partner for the birth of his child. His absence didn’t affect RCB too much as KL Rahul took up the mantle to open the innings with Virat Kohli. Rahul punched above his weight, exceeded expectations, showed tremendous form and reduced the workload on Kohli.

When Gayle returned to India, he found it difficult to break into the side. It was unthinkable to see an RCB outfit on the field with Chris Gayle benched. It did happen and it must have surely spurred the big man on. Gayle was given a couple of opportunities in the home games but he flattered to deceive. He looked tentative and got out cheaply only to increase RCB’s headache.

It was the match no. 48 at Eden Gardens and RCB were squaring off against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a must win game. Virat Kohli decided to play Gayle in this crucial tie and he responded with a 49 but that typical Gayle innings at Chinnaswamy was still missing from this edition.

In the match no. 50 against Kings XI Punjab, Gayle finally came into his own scoring a whirlwind 73 off 32 balls. His innings was studded with four boundaries and eight humongous sixes.

It was mass destruction at its best in the rain-shortened encounter. In a 15 over contest RCB scored a gigantic 211, courtesy of some unbelievable hitting by the West Indian along with the legendary Virat Kohli who scored yet another jaw-dropping century.

	Runs	Balls Faced	4s	6s
Chris Gayle	73	32	4	8

Chris Gayle started off with a boundary off Mohit Sharma but the real onslaught began in the fourth over when he took a special liking to Kyle Abbott. He smashed Abbott for two consecutive sixes over long off and smashed him for a boundary through extra covers.

After Abbott, it was Cariappa’s turn to receive some treatment. Gayle slogged Cariappa for a maximum in the next over and was looking ominous with every passing ball.

Murali Vijay, sensing trouble, decided to bring his ace bowler Axar Patel into the attack. Little did he know that Axar will be treated with utter disdain in the next few overs by the “Boss”. The KXIP spinner did pick Gayle’s wicket but not before the swashbuckling batsman had done some irreparable damage to his bowling figures.

In the 9th over, Gayle smashed Axar for a couple of sixes over mid-wicket to bring up his fifty. He celebrated the fifty with the trademark “Champion Dance”.

Another big moment came when Axar was asked to bowl the 11th over. The left-hand bowler, clearly low on confidence, started bowling darts and Gayle was too happy to smack them over long on and cow corner.

He smashed the second, third and fifth ball of the over for sixes over the mid-wicket region. It was the vintage effortless hitting that got the crowd up on their feet and it was turning out to be an absolute annihilation.

Patel though, redeemed himself a wee bit by getting Gayle caught at long off in the last ball of his over. It was the kind of innings that signalled the return of the “Boss” and other teams will be wary of the Gayle threat especially if RCB manage to qualify for the playoffs.