IPL 2017: SK Play of the day, Chris Gayle bludgeons Ravindra Jadeja
West Indies opener, Chris Gayle, had looked out of touch and ever so rusty when the tournament started. A timely recall in the absence of AB de Villiers was just what Gayle needed to get back into his groove. While his knock was exceptional, it was that one over bowled by Ravindra Jadeja that set the rhythm for Gayle.
Watch: Gayle taking on the Test No. 1 bowler
Jadeja might have fancied his chances against Gayle given that the West Indian has been out of form in the tournament thus far. But the aggressive southpaw was in one of his enterprising moods and took apart the Indian spinner in a scintillating display of hitting.
It was the eighth over of the game and Gayle was on 24 off 14 balls having completed 10,000 T20 runs. He had a couple of sixes off Basil Thampi and Shivil Kaushik to his name already. Having smashed Kohli on the boot while driving down the ground in the second ball of the over, Gayle rocked the next ball past his skipper and Jadeja for four.
The next ball was thumped through the covers by the West Indian. Jadeja, opting to go wider and shorter saw Gayle making room and smashing the ball for yet another four.
The penultimate ball was smoked over deep mid-wicket. Gayle picked up a length delivery from Jadeja, who was getting predictable by then, and slog swept it way into the stands for his third six of the game.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017: Chris Gayle becomes the first batsman to score 10000 T20 runs
The pressure was on Jadeja as he walked in to bowl the last ball. Gayle once again got underneath a low full toss and smashed it over long-off. Brendon McCullum, running in from long-off put in a scintillating dive and held on to complete a seemingly impossible catch. Unfortunately for the Gujarat Lions, replays revealed that McCullum's hat had brushed the ropes and Gayle had six more to his kitty.
The over turned out to be a big one for RCB and importantly got Gayle going. He finished on 77 off 38 balls with seven sixes and helped the team to a 200+ total in the absence of de Villiers.
Jadeja went on to have a nightmarish night, with Kedar Jadhav smashing him for 17 in the final over of the game. He went for a whopping 57 runs in his allotted four overs.