Prior to the start of IPL 2018, Kings XI Punjab's director Virender Sehwag said Chris Gayle would be worth the money spent on him if he were to win his team two or three games. Gayle has now played two match-winning innings in two matches. Four days after his 33-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings, Gayle shellacked his sixth IPL hundred and 21st overall in T20s to consign Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first defeat of the season.

On Sunday, Gayle lined up CSK's medium-pacers, but adopted a different approach against a formidable Sunrisers attack. He saw off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's first spell and later unleashed a brutal assault on Rashid Khan's legspin. All told, Gayle smashed 42 off 16 balls from Rashid at a strike-rate of 262.50.

Gayle batted through the innings for his 104 not out off 63 balls, which also included four twos. In pursuit of 194, Sunrisers lost early wickets as well as Shikhar Dhawan to an elbow injury, and there was no way back for them, despite fifties from their captain Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey.

Kings XI's Jekyll-and-Hyde start

After becoming the first captain to opt to bat this season, R Ashwin reckoned Kings XI would be better off setting a target as opposed to chasing one against the best attack in the tournament at one of India's larger grounds. Gayle and KL Rahul began cautiously against the swing and change-ups of Bhuvneshwar and Chris Jordan, and played out 12 dots in the first three overs. Gayle then launched Kings XI's innings when he hit four boundaries in seven balls, including three leg-side sixes off Jordan and Rashid. In between, he was dropped on 14 by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha off Rashid's first ball - a difficult chance off the toe end when he looked to cut.

Rahul, at the other end, had an early scare when he was given out lbw on 5, but he survived after a review thanks to a thin inside edge. Rahul moved to 18 off 20 before being pinned in front by a Rashid skidder. Rahul's Karnataka team-mate Mayank Agarwal flickered briefly before slicing Siddarth Kaul to backward point for 18 off 9; by then Kings XI were 83 for 2 in the 11th over.