On This Day, January 9, 2011: There was IPL Auction held in the lead up to the 2011 IPL season and there were some big names like Brian Lara, Ganguly and Chris Gayle who did not get any bids and were unsold. Brian Lara had retired in 2008 and was trying to make a comeback in 2011 but since he was 41-year-old no team wanted to risk it. Ganguly did not have good performances in T20 and hence did not get a bid. But the biggest name here was Chris Gayle, who had already played 16 matches for Kolkata Knight Riders across two seasons, Gayle went unsold in the auction ahead of the 2011 edition with a base price of $400,000. But destiny had other plans
In IPL 2011, Royal Challengers Bangalore were struggling having lost three of their first four matches. Australian pacer Dirk Nannes was ruled out of the remainder of season due to injury. Chris Gayle was roped in as a replacement for Nannes and the fortunes of RCB changed completely. Chris Gayle made a stunning impact on debut for RCB.
While playing against KKR, Gayle smashed 102 not out from just 55 balls to deliver a win. The win helped them into a seven match winning streak for RCB in which Gayle was pivotal, In the same season, Gayle smashed another century, this time against Kings XI Punjab. He ended that game with bowling figures of 3-21.
RCB lost to Chennai Super Kings in the first qualifying final during the playoffs. But in the next match against Mumbai Indians, Gayle scored an unbeaten 89 off just 47 balls to take RCB to the final. Although RCB lot the final to CSK it was an extraordinary campaign for them. Gayle was the Man of the Tournament with 608 runs at an average of 67.55 and a strike rate of more than 180. It was one of the best tournaments and from being unsold on January 9, 2011 to being the player of the tournament in the same year was stuff of dreams.
