5 Fastest Bowlers at IPL 9
The fastest ever recorded speed of a ball in the IPL is 173.9 kph, courtesy of an error by Hawkeye, during IPL 2013. Chris Gayle, the batsman on strike, was seen staring shocked at the reading, with eyebrows up. Had the reading been correct, Morne Morkel would have bowled the fastest ever delivery in cricket, a good 12.6 kilometres quicker than Shoaib Akhtar’s record.
The IPL is known more for the size of the sixes that are produced in it rather than bowling speeds, but raw pace has a part to play in the competition as well. Kings XI Punjab’s Mitchell Johnson has regularly crossed the 150kph mark in the IPL’s recent years, thus earning a fierce reputation in India. Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Shaun Tait are some of the other bowlers to have attained such speeds.
There is a completely new batch of fast bowlers in the IPL racking up the numbers on speedometers in the current edition.
The top 100 fastest balls till now in IPL 2016 have been bowled between a total of 14 bowlers, with the surprising names among them being Dhawal Kulkarni and Ashok Dinda. The most number of 140+kph balls have been bowled by the Delhi Daredevils speedster who is also at #1 in this list:
#1 – Chris Morris (Delhi Daredevils) – 150.02 kph
Chris Morris has bowled eight of the ten fastest deliveries yet at this year’s IPL. Morris has been at the top of several lists this year – he also has the highest strike rate of the tournament and is the top ranked fielder as of yet.
With the ball, Morris has taken 8 wickets in 31 overs, at an average of 26.5. However, he has also hardly leaked runs, having an economy rate of 6.8.
A genuine fast bowler who swings his bat, connecting on most occasions, lower down the batting order – Morris is a T20 captain’s dream.