New Delhi: Chris Gayle blasted a whirlwind unbeaten 128, studded with incredible 13 sixes, as Royal Challengers Bangalore thumped Delhi DareDevils by 21 runs to keep their playoffs hopes alive in the Indian Premier League, here, on Thursday.

With 17 points from 15 matches, RCB are very much in contention for a playoff berth. Gayle’s murderous innings ensured that their run rate is in the positive (+0.010).

With his first hundred of the season, Gayle became the first batsman to score 700 or more runs in a single edition in the history of IPL as RCB scored a mammoth 215 for one after being invited to bat at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.

The marauding West Indian surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s 618 runs, which the Mumbai Indians batsman had scored in 2009-10 while Gayle now has scored 706 runs this season.

With his skipper Virat Kohli (73 not out off 53 balls), Gayle rattled up an unconquered 204-run stand, second-highest partnership for any wicket in IPL, to set up the huge target.

Gayle’s 62-ball knock was also the second highest individual score by a batsman in the IPL history, second only to Brendon McCullum’s unbeaten 158, which the Kiwi had hit in the inaugural edition in 2008 for Kolkata Knight Riders.

The following are excerpts

Virat Kohli: It was an important game for us. It was a great wicket to bat on… It behaved almost the same through out the match. We batted tremendously and Delhi almost chased us down… Terrific match!

Everyday you don’t get a 200-run partnership in T20 cricket. It was a great effort. To watch Chris Gayle from the non-striker’s end is hell of an experience. One of the shots almost took my head off today. But jokes apart, I think, I had the best seat to watch his batting today… What an innings!

He doesn’t need to take singles… I was rotating the strike and waited for him to do what he does best. Murder the bowlers. We had to win two out of two... Now one down, one to go… Today’s match has taken our run-rate to the positives. That’s a great sign… We will give our best in the next match.

Mahela Jayawardene: Gayle is in tremendous form… But we had chances to get him out early and we didn’t take the chance. He made us pay. Virat batted really well with him and they put together a brilliant partnership. We knew 200 was chasable on this wicket. I think we batted really well and it was a good effort from our batsmen to go so close to their score.

We rested Viru (Sehwag) because he was not well… He couldn’t leave the bed. The other player we rested was Morne Morkel… The reason was simple… We are playing back to back matches and we need to keep him fresh for the playoffs. And we gave a chance to Andre Russel to see how he fires… All in all, it was a good match for us as well… A lot of positives to take from the match.

We are a really happy camp… We have another game to play before the playoffs and we want everybody to be at the top of his game…

We have played enough T20 cricket to know that these things happen… We will have to sit down and find out where we have gone wrong and rectify those mistakes… We will have to make sure that we get Gayle out soon next time we play.

Chris Gayle: It was a pressure game for us. Definitely one of the best innings for me… Trust me, I was under a lot of pressure… That brought out the best of me and that I’m happy to get the opportunity to score. I just wanted to go out in the middle and express myself. A lot was happening for the last couple of days…

We were in a pressure situation and I was little depressed… In pressure situations, you will get a better Chris Gayle. I was excellently supported by Virat (Kohli). The pitch was on the slower side early on. But we hung in there and stuck to our task. Eventually we succeeded to put up a decent score.

The secret to those big sixes are nothing but right balance… Once you are balanced, you can hit the balls as long as you can.

Hitting big sixes comes naturally to me… I stay still and try to clear the field. Maiden over is okay, as long as I am there till the end. If I stay longer it helps to get the runs for the team.

I try to get as much rest as I can. This season has been really long. Playing such long tournaments can be tiring… But it’s important to relax.

Mentally preparing for these long seasons holds the key. You can be playing a long way away from home…

But, you have to make sure that you are in a comfort zone and go into the middle and enjoy your cricket as much as you can.

Zaheer Khan: In Twenty20 cricket, you should always look to do something different. Especially, in wickets like Delhi, where there is absolutely nothing for the bowlers, you need varieties. And for me, changing angles always helps… Tests, ODIs or T20s — whatever format I am playing, changing of angle, coming round the stumps and wide of the crease, always helps.

I try to stay away from Gayle in the nets. The way he hits, it can be very demoralising.

(Laughs) Honestly, he is a real asset for us… What an innings he played today!