After Gayle whooped the Pune-based team, their coach Allan Donald walked up to the West Indian and asked, “Why us?”
On the opening night of the Indian Premier
League (IPL), former New Zealand batter lit the stage on fire by hitting 158 runs against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). That night, everybody thought that McCullum’s record would remain intact for a decade, given that scoring 158 runs single-handedly in 20 overs is an impossible task nobody else could achieve.
However, the record lasted only five years because on the evening of April 23, 2013, Chris Gayle went a step further with an unbelievable run-scoring spree.
On this day in 2013, Chris Gayle smashed the highest individual score in the IPL 🔥
154 runs of his 175 had come in boundaries! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Qfogl02ZEP— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 23, 2025
The Gayle storm
Since the beginning of the IPL, Gayle was known for his heavy hitting, and after a few unsuccessful seasons with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), he moved to RCB. In 2013, during the 31st match against the now-defunct Pune Warriors, Gayle started hitting the bowlers left, right, and centre from the beginning of the inning— he scored 21 runs off 10 balls.
By the 17th ball, Gayle had reached 50 runs, sparing no bowlers, including Mitchell Marsh, Ali Murtaza, Aaron Finch, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, and Luke Wright.
"I could have scored 200 runs" - @henrygayle being Chris Gayle 😅
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 23, 2024
📹 | Watch the #UniverseBoss relive his greatest-ever T20 innings and one of the best we have ever witnessed in the history of #IPL! 🤌
Will any batter be able to come close to his record of 175 pic.twitter.com/oHpcG20jEu
Gayle hit the 150-run milestone in the 53rd ball, and finally, in the 66th ball, he scored 175 runs and went back to the dugout without getting out. Gayle’s batting had ended the game in the first innings as RCB scored 167 runs in merely 13 overs, and by the end of the 20th over, the team posted 263 runs on the board for Pune.
In this match, RCB was not at the receiving end, unlike in the opening game of the IPL. Rather, it was their team embarrassing another outfit.
Brilliant bowling
Gayle wasn’t done contributing for his team, as he also performed brilliantly with the ball. The former West Indies hitter bowled only one over but grabbed two wickets and gave away only five runs.
The remaining bowlers successfully finished the match by dismissing the Pune Warriors for 133 runs, taking a total of nine wickets. Gaye alone scored more than Pune’s entire team, and RCB won the game by a massive 130 runs.
THE CHRIS GAYLE SHOW ON THIS DAY IN 2013..!!!!
— MANU. (@IMManu_18) April 23, 2025
- Gayle smashed 175* runs 66 Balls with 17 sixes hammered most knock in IPL History & also completed fastest hundred in IPL vs PWI..!!! pic.twitter.com/Q1hi9nj2IL
In the post-match interview, an ecstatic Gayle said, “Words can't explain how I feel, I think later on tonight when I am by myself I can look back and reflect on what I've done today, I'm grateful, overall from a team point of view, I'm really happy with the win, that put us on top of the table, just one of those innings, one of these days when you come out and things go according to how you want it to.”
End with a joke
Aaron Finch, who was the third captain of Pune Warriors that season after Angelo Mathews and Ross Taylor were sacked within a span of seven games, ended the dreadful night with a joke, saying, “That was simply the best innings I've ever seen. Maybe we should ban him from the game. Maybe he's too good, he hits it too far.”
