Mayank Yadav has got everyone talking. The reason? His raw pace. He has already breached the 155 km/h mark a few times in this IPL. His fastest delivery so far has been clocked at 156.7 km/h, which according to the broadcasters was the fastest delivery of the 17th season of the tournament. Before that, Mayank had bowled a 155.6 km/h pearler in the same match. Both of those balls were bowled to Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Cameron Green on Tuesday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
These two rockets from Mayank Yadav came a few days after he had bowled a 155.8 km/h screamer against the Punjab Kings on his IPL debut. What has been working for Mayank is not just his pace. It’s his accuracy and resistance against trying out multiple things. It’s simple. He runs in, bangs it in just short of the good-length area and makes the batters struggle.
The results have followed. He picked up 3/27 against PBKS and then backed that up with an even better performance against RCB (3/14). On both occasions, he was bowling second with the pressure of defending a target. That was perhaps one of the biggest reasons why he was adjudged Player of the Match for both matches – the first player in the history of IPL to get two back-to-back POTM awards in his first two matches.
Mayank’s thunderbolts have made him an overnight sensation with the who’s who of the game raving about him. Google searches about his pace have been trending for the last two days. So where does he stand among the fastest bowlers of IPL?
There is a bit of a debate about Gerarld Coetzee’s 157.4 km/h delivery to Riyan Parag a couple of nights ago as the broadcasters didn’t mention it in the list when Mayank clocked 156.7. So even if we leave that delivery aside, Mayank’s is still not in the top 3 of IPL’s fastest balls.
Fastest deliveries in IPL history:
Shaun Tait 157.71 kmph – 2011
Gerald Coetzee 157.4 kmph – 2024 (debatable)
Lockie Ferguson 157.3 kmph – 2022
Umran Malik 157 kmph – 2022
Mayank Yadav: 156.7 kmph – 2024
Anrich Nortje 156.22 kmph – 2020
Umran Malik 156 kmph – 2022
What about international cricket? Mayank’s ranking would dip further if we take international cricket into account. He would struggle to find a place in the top 10. The record for the fastest delivery in international cricket belongs to Shoaib Akhtar, who had hurled a 161.3 km/hr delivery to England’s Nick Knight in the 2003 ODI World Cup.
Fastest balls in international cricket
| Rank | Player | Speed (km/hr) | Country | Opposotion | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shoaib Akhtar | 161.3 km/hr (100.2 mph) | Pakistan | England | 2003 |
| 2 | Shaun Tait | 161.1 km/hr (100.1 mph) | Australia | England | 2010 |
| 3 | Brett Lee | 161.1 km/hr (100.1 mph) | Australia | New Zealand | 2005 |
| 4 | Jeff Thomson | 160.6 km/hr (99.8 mph) | Australia | West Indies | 1975 |
| 5 | Mitchell Starc | 160.4 km/hr (99.7 mph) | Australia | New Zealand | 2015 |
| 6 | Andy Roberts | 159.5 km/hr (99.1 mph) | West Indies | Australia | 1975 |
| 7 | Fidel Edwards | 157.7 km/hr (97.9 mph) | West Indies | South Africa | 2003 |
| 8 | Mitchell Johnson | 156.8 km/hr (97.4 mph) | Australia | England | 2013 |
| 9 | Mohammed Shami | 156.4 km/hr (97.1 mph) | Pakistan | Zimbabwe | 2003 |
| 10 | Shane Bond | 156.4 km/hr (97.1 mph) | New Zealand | India | 2003 |
Akhtar is closely followed by Shaun Tain, Brett Lee, Jeff Thompson, and Mitchell – these are the only five bowlers in the history of international cricket to have breached the 160 mark.
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