On this day (April 23): RCB's high and low in IPL; Chris Gayle’s 175, Virat Kohli hurt by 'worst batting'
On this day (April 23) in 2013, Chris Gayle hit the highest-ever IPL score of 175 for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Also, RCB posted the highest-ever IPL total. But on the same day four years later, in 2017, RCB had a forgettable performance. It was described as 'worst' by captain Virat Kohli
FollowBengaluru: April 23 is a significant date in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL). It was on this day in the year 2013 that Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) Chris Gayle blasted the highest-ever individual IPL score, 175.
It was on this day that RCB rejoiced by posting the highest-ever IPL team total. But, there is another reason for RCB to forget April 23. Read on.
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Cricket fans will never forget the carnage unleashed by Gayle on Pune Warriors bowlers at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 23, 2013. It is on this day today seven years ago that the Gayle force struck Bengaluru. Gayle's 30-ball ton is the fastest in IPL history.
As we celebrate the anniversary of Gayle’s 175 and the highest-ever total (263/5 in 20 overs) from the same match, the Virat Kohli-led RCB and their fans would want to forget another statistic from the same day.
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On April 23, 2017, RCB collapsed to the lowest ever IPL total (49 all out in 9.4 overs). None of their batsmen managed to get into double-digit score on that day at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. The highest score was nine by Kedar Jadhav.
RCB skipper Kohli, opening the batting, was out for a duck as the team collapsed while chasing 132. Gayle was out for seven runs.
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Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme took three wickets each to trigger RCB’s collapse.
Speaking after that match, Kohli had said, “Our worst batting performance, it really hurts. After the kind of (first) half that we had, we thought we could capitalise and chase it down. Reckless batting. I can’t say anything at the moment. It was that bad. This is just not acceptable.”
Coming back to the joy of Gayle’s batting in 2013, the Jamaican blazed his way to an unbeaten 175 off just 66 balls with 13 fours and 17 sixes. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Luke Wright were the only bowlers to come out unscathed. Bhuvneshwar bowled his four-over spell for 23 runs without a wicket while Wright delivered his four overs for 26 runs with one wicket.
Pune captain Aaron Finch used seven bowlers including himself but none of them succeeded in dismissing Gayle. Finch was hit for 29 runs off his one over.
In reply to RCB’s mammoth score, Pune were restricted to 133/9 in 20 overs. RCB won by 130 runs.
Four years apart, April 23 was unforgettable and forgettable day for the Kohli-captained RCB.
