Champions League T20 - Top 5 impactful innings down the years

4) Chris Gayle (Royal Challengers Bangalore vs New South Wales, Bangalore 2011) – 92 (41b, 8 x 4s, 8 x 6s)

FILE PHOTO: Chris Gayle’s 92 overcame David Warner’s century

If Kieron Pollard is on the list, Christopher Gayle cannot be too far away.

Gayle hasn’t made the tournament as close to his heart as he has done the IPL, but he has come up with occasional performances that make the crowd sit up in awe.

A few days prior to this match, Bangalore had scampered to victory against South Australia, thanks to a last ball sixer by the unheralded Arun Karthik.

It was the first time an Indian side had beaten an Australian side in the Champions League. Lightning was to strike in the same place twice.

This time, it was that dominant Aussie side of New South Wales. They too had powered themselves to a 200 plus total thanks to a turbocharged century by David Warner. But they forgot Chris Gayle was watching.

With Virat Kohli and his massive willow for company, Gayle proceeded to dissect the NSW bowling all too brutally with 8 towering sixes. Mitchell Starc was toyed around with; Steve O’ Keefe pummelled. The other national prospect Pat Cummins managed to take all the wickets that fell, but not before leaking 45 runs.

With around 40 runs left to be chased, Gayle got bored and presented his pad to Cummins rather than his bat. The finger was raised and a century missed, but Gayle couldn’t have cared – he leads the T20 century count leader-board by a big margin.