On this day in 2020: Chris Gayle became the first-ever batter to 1000 T20 sixes
Christopher Henry Gayle is one of the best power-hitters to have played T20 cricket and holds a plethora of records in the shortest format including a mammoth 175 in IPL 2013, which remains the highest individual score in T20 cricket to date.
The ‘Universe Boss’ has the ability to single-handedly take the match away from the opposition on his day with his gigantic shots and is an accomplished batter with a lot of runs under his belt.
Meanwhile, it was on this very day in 2020 that Chris Gayle became the first-ever batter to hit 1000 T20 sixes. Gayle became the first cricketer on the planet to register a mammoth 1000 T20 sixes and he achieved this feat during Punjab’s IPL 2022 encounter against the inaugural edition’s champions Rajasthan Royals. Moreover, the ‘Universe Boss’ achieved this milestone moment in his 410th overall T20 match.
Gayle hit eight sixes during that knock against RR and the record 1000th T20 six happened to be the seventh of those eight maximums. The bowler who was at the receiving end was youngster Kartik Tyagi.
Unfortunately for the Caribbean power-hitter, he was castled by English speedster Jofra Archer for an agonizing score of 99 runs off just 63 deliveries at an outstanding strike rate of 157.14 that also included six fours.
The southpaw was also involved in a 120-run second-wicket stand along with skipper KL Rahul (46) as Punjab posted a challenging total of 185/4 from their quota of 20 overs.
However, Punjab ended up on the losing side as the Rajasthan Royals successfully chased down the target by seven wickets in the 18th over courtesy of a 26-ball 50 from star England all-rounder Ben Stokes. Only Murugan Ashwin and Chris Jordan were the picks of the bowlers for the Mohali-based franchise while the rest of the bowlers struggled on a good batting wicket at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
The West Indies megastar finished the 2020 season 288 runs from the seven matches that he got to play averaging 41.14 and a strike rate of 137.14 including three half-centuries. However, Punjab did not qualify for the playoffs for a sixth year in a row as they finished at the sixth position in the points table with six wins and eight losses and 12 points to their tally at an NRR of -0.162.
