Chris Gayle became the first man on the planet to have 20 T20 hundreds as the belligerent left-hander smashed an unbeaten 146 off just 69 balls for Rangpur Riders against Dhaka Dynamites in the Bangladesh Premier League final. His knock helped Rangpur post a mammoth 206/1. Gayle had also hit a hundred – unbeaten 126 – against the Khulna Titans in the Eliminator.
In the all important final against Dhaka, Rangpur rode on Gayle’s explosive start to put the opposition under pressure. The attacking opener hit fifty off just 33 balls and went into a destructive mode in the second half of his innings. This was his 20th, yes 20th, 100-plus knock in the shortest format. He has also scored two hundreds in T20I for West Indies.
After losing Johnson Charles in the second over of the match, Gayle didn’t let pressure come on his team as he continued in the manner he knows best – attack. Runs came thick and fast and fielders were on leather hunt throughout their time out in the middle. More than the fielders, the spectators too were kept busy as the big man hit as many as 18 towering sixes during his 69-ball knock.
Gayle’s knock helped him break plenty of records. His 18 sixes were the most in a T20 innings, 146* was the highest score in a T20 final, his partnership with McCullum was the highest in a T20 final, he became the first player to smash 100 sixes in BPL, scores 11, 000 T20 runs – new world record, 20th T20 ton – another world record.
The 18 sixes take his T20 six count to a staggering 819. It will take some doing for other players to catch up with Gayle’s run in the shortest format. The left-hander averages 40, strike-rate nears the 150 mark and he has 20 hundreds and 67 fifties. These are the kind of numbers a batsman would dream of even in the fifty-over format. He has already played 320 matches in the T20 format and is looking good to play at least a fifty more.
