IPL 2019: Seven records that have been broken so far
Super Over. No-ball howler. Spirit of cricket variance. Exhilarating hitting, brilliant comebacks, heart-wrenching collapses and what not.
The first 13 days of the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League has given us plenty of heart-in-the-mouth moments and in the process plethora of record-breaking feats have been achieved.
Today, in this article we will have a look at Seven records that have been broken so far:-
#7 The 'Universe Boss' inaugurates the 300-6s Club
If there ever is an IPL 'Hall of Fame' Chris Gayle will have his presence to the tune of his physical stature. Imposing. Swashbuckling. Such has been the impact of the 'Universe Boss' over the years in the IPL, that it is almost impossible to imagine an all-time XI without the big Jamaican.
His Brobdingnagian sixes have reverberated consistently across the eleven years of the Indian Premier League. Consistent is a keyword here. One of the thing that made Gayle stand apart from others was ruthless and consistent annihilation of the opposition bowlers.
When on a song, rarely would Chris Gayle squander it away without having lit up the crowd with brutal and non-stop hitting.
Gayle's template is simple. Respect the first spell before laying into the opponent once he has got his eye in.
His peak years' in IPL cricket came while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore [2011-2017] where the swashbuckling left-hander scored in excess of 500 runs [608, 733 & 708] for three consecutive seasons [2011-2013].
So, when the debate about the player with the most number of sixes in IPL history comes up, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Gayle Gayle occupies the numero-uno spot, but what boggles the mind is the difference between Gayle and the next-best.
While Gayle sits pretty with 302 sixes, nobody in the lift thereafter has even crossed 200. MS Dhoni, with 192 hits to his name is at the second spot followed by AB de Villiers [191], Suresh Raina [188] and Rohit Sharma [185].