A storm threatened to ruin the IPL 2013 game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Pune Warriors, leading to a slight halt early on, but once Gaylestorm decided to take charge, even Mother Nature had to take a backseat.
A day after Shane Watson scored the first century of IPL 2013, Chris Gayle just made that innings look like an atttritional club game innings, as the RCB opener blitzed Pune Warriors for 175 runs in just 66 balls, leading his side to a 130-run victory.
The innings included - take a breath - 17 sixes and 13 fours, as Gayle broke the record for the highest T20 score -- beating the one scored by Brendon McCullum in the same ground in the inaugural match of the IPL.
The record for the most sixes in an innings was also broken along with the quickest ever hundred, which he reached in 30 balls.
RCB finished on a massive 263 for five in 20 overs, with Pune Warriors managing only 133 for nine. The home side stormed to the top of the table with the victory, having won six of their eight matches to garner 12 points. Pune have the exact opposite record, with six losses and just two wins in eight.
The chase was never on really, as Robin Uthappa fell for a duck off the second ball, with RCB picking up wickets in regular intervals.
The likes of Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Luke Wright, Mitchell Marsh and Steven Smith, who top scored with 41 (31b, 6x4), gave it a good go, but the total was well beyond them as RCB continued their unbeaten run at home, making it six wins out of six, with Gayle picking up a couple of wickets in the last over - just because he can.
Earlier, it was just one man, and boy was it worth a watch. Gayle just ruthlessly smoked the Pune Warriors -- it was a massacre that would have made even the big West Indian himself wonder if he was being too cruel.
There is a standard of strike rate in the IPL and T20 cricket which is considered brilliant. If you are anywhere around the 200 mark, and have scored anywhere above 30 runs, it's quite an awesome innings.
So what do you say to a batsman who has scored 175 runs at a strike rate of 265.15?
There are genuinely no words in the dictionary, which can explain Chris Gayle and his art of batting.
In a way the art is quite simple really - the bowler bowls, Gayle swings his bat irrespective of the direction of the delivery, and someone in the crowd or in the streets taking a casual stroll looks to catch the ball.
The first proper assault - which would have left his victim comatose if it happened in real life - came in the fifth over, when Gayle pummelled 28 runs off Mitchell Marsh - an over which included four sixes and a four.
Tillakaratne Dilshan (33, 36b, 5x4) - yes there was a batsman at the other end - believe it or not, was actually struggling, barely able to score at a run a ball.
The seventh over from Ali Murtaza, was dispatched for two sixes and a four, before Gayle hit five consecutive boundaries off Aaron Finch - four maximums and a four.
It was just unfair on Pune really, because there is just no stopping Gayle when he is in this kind of mood. There is no batsman in T20 cricket, other than Gayle, who never looks like getting out even when he is murdering the bowlers off every ball.
In the ninth over, Gayle had reached a hundred off 30 balls - yes, this is not a typo - 30 balls!
Five wickets fell at the other end during the innings, with De Villiers impressing with a quickfire 31 from just eight balls.
Gayle remained unbeaten on 175 (66b, 13x4, 17x6) and Warriors players quickly sprinted back into the pavilion, in case someone decided to call them back again for some reason to face Gayle's wrath for a second time.
