West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle is widely renowned for this exploits in world cricket, which makes him a bowler's worst nightmare. The 'Gayle storm', a term very popular amongst cricket fans due to his aggressive hitting, rained havoc on former Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Pune Warriors' bowling unit. A free-hitting Chris cruised to record the fastest ever century in T20 cricket. On April 23, 2013, the Jamaican had set the Chinnaswamy roof on fire when he blazed to a 66-ball 175 knock. Gayle registered the highest individual score in the shortest format of the game and hit the maximum number of sixes in an innings.
Gayle took just 30 balls to get to the three-figure mark, eclipsing Andrew Symonds 34-ball effort, as Royal Challengers Bangalore posted a T20 record 263 for five. The previous highest total by a team in this form of the game was 260 by Sri Lanka.
In all, he scored 175 off a mere 66 balls, leaving the opposition shell-shocked at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. For those who witnessed the relentless onslaught from the stands, the visit was definitely worth it as it rained sixes and fours. Gayle hammered an unprecedented 17 sixes to go with his 13 fours.
By the time he had reached his century, 98 off Gayle's runs had come in boundaries (8 Fours and 11 Sixes). For the record, he consumed 23 balls to reach 150 from 100, which was the slowest of the three fifties, giving a fair indication of what he actually did to the clueless bowlers. His strike-rate at the end of the innings was a staggering 265.15.
"I didn't want to just get the hundred and continue blasting and blasting and get out, you know how quickly this game can change," Gayle had said after his knock.
RCB skipper Virat Kohli was also all praise for Gayle and said that no words could describe the West Indian's innings. "I'm privileged that I watched this innings live."
