When rain gods stay away, 'Gayle storm hits Bengaluru' is the refrain when Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) dangerous opener Chris Gayle gets going, as he did on Wednesday night against Kings XI Punjab at the Chinnaswamy stadium in an Indian Premier League tie.
Put in to bat first by Punjab skipper George Bailey, RCB's West Indian southpaw smashed 117 in 57 balls, raining a dozen sixes and seven fours, which set the packed stands on fire and sent frenzied fans into tizzy.
The Jamaican posted his maiden century in this tournament after hitting 96 in 56 balls with seven sixes and seven fours against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on April 11 and made the team win their opening match by three wickets.
Though Gayle opened the innings by scoring a solitary one in the first over of Sandeep Sharma, he blasted Johnson in the second over hitting three sixes and two fours and took the score to 27, with 26 runs from that over.
Though dropped twice, once by Bailey at the long run in third over of Mitchell Johnson and by Manan Vohra at deep midwicket in ninth over of Akshar Patel, Gayle took the Punjab bowlers, including pacer Johnson to the cleaners as hit them all over the ground much to the delight of his die-hard fans.
"Gayle is incredible. He is unstoppable when in form. He is a sheer joy to watch playing those amazing shots. It is only to see him play the way he did tonight we come to the stadium. We hope he will be consistent in the remaining (four) matches and take RCB to the final to win the tournament," an upbeat Rajeev Mishra, a college student, told IANS in the western stands.
Gayle also registered a 119-run first wicket partnership with skipper Virat Kohli, who made 32 in 30 balls, with one six and three fours.
Of the 226 for three wickets RCB scored in the stipulated 20 overs, AB de Villers hit a cameo innings of 47 in 24 balls with four sixes and three fours.