As Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to kick off from 19th September, barring the classic clash of Titans there will be another war unfolding on a different front as Australian front-runner of pace, Nathan Coulter-Nile will be going toe-to-toe with his national compatriot, Josh Hazlewood who is playing for Chennai. This battle will also stay witness to the confrontation of two Indian fast bowling spearheads, Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur.
In a format of the game where the bowlers have very minimal space for themselves as the batsmen love to make mince-meat of anything which is haywire off its apt line and length, fast bowlers play an extremely crucial role in controlling the flow of runs towards the end. As the batsmen enter into a slogging mode, spinners really do not stand a chance, unless it is some extraordinary bowling attack headed by few enigmatic names. It is pacers who mix up their pace and thrown in those peachy Yorkers to cut short the flow of the runs.
In this piece, we will be celebrating those fast bowlers and one of their rarest feats, the fastest ball that they have bowled in IPL so far. Honestly, the ball may even have been dispersed into the stands which detract the speciality of the delivery, however, T20 cricket has always been lawless experimentation that has seen unheralded and blasphemous practices become the norm.
Kagiso Rabada (153.5 kmph)
In 2019, the fast bowler from the Rainbow Nation drew all the fanfare for himself when he generated some brutal pace that derailed even the best of batsmen from their tracks. As he claimed 25 wickets from 12 games in the preceding edition of the tournament, he whipped up the deck with some battle-hardened fast bowling. One of those tracer bullets clocked 153.5 kilometres per hour on the speed gun. This is the third fastest delivery bowled by Rabada and overall the fifth in the list.
Pat Cummins (153.56 kmph)
Donning on the jersey of Kolkata Knightriders for the imminent edition of the fray, Pat Cummins underline his fiery pace with some mesmerizing bowling figures until now. He bowled the fastest delivery of 2017 as he clocked 153.56 kilometres per hour, playing for Mumbai Indians. An experienced campaigner, to say the least, his red-hot form which was up for display against England, will be a massive catalyst to KKR.
Kagiso Rabada (153.91 kmph)
The young Proteas fast bowler was absolutely relentless in his shot at redemption in the precursor edition of the fray. As mentioned previously he scalped 25 wickets from 12 games at a decent economy rate of 7.82. He rocked the deck of fast bowlers again with a delivery that flew at 153.91 kilometres per hour bettering his previous record of 153.5.
Kagiso Rabada (154.23 kmph)
This young lad was nothing short of dragon breath in the last season of IPL. After rocking this lost twice already, he makes a third appearance as he managed to rattle the batsman at 154.23 kilometres per hour that will by far remain his best as of now unless he overhauls it in the upcoming edition of IPL. He ended up as the second-highest wicket-taker of the fray, one shy of his national colleague, Imran Tahir who claimed 26.
Dale Steyn (154.40 kmph)
Nicknamed as the Steyn Gun, Dale Steyn has always been an intimidating moniker in the cricketing canon. Despite his career being plagued by a string of injuries towards the latter half, in his prime, no other bowler could best him in a duel. In 2012, he left the batsmen dazed and confused as he managed to scalp 18 wickets and also bowled the fastest delivery of IPL that clocked 154.40 kilometres per hour on the speedometer.
