By Duy Huynh Kinda felt curious today about cricket’s fastest balls after seeing that Starc bowling clip. Grabbed my laptop and coffee, thinking “Alright, how fast do these IPL guys really throw?”
The Online Stats Hunting
Opened up Google real quick. Just typed “IPL fastest bowl speed history”. Easy peasy. Figured cricket websites must track this stuff constantly. Clicked on a few, scrolling fast past all the ads and match highlights.
Noticed something weird right away. Most lists talked about the same few bowlers topping the speed charts season after season. Names like Umran Malik and Lockie Ferguson kept popping up everywhere. Thought maybe newcomers were breaking in?
- Shoaib Akhtar: Always in the conversation, the original speed demon.
- Brett Lee: Aussie legend, pure pace.
- Shaun Tait: Remember him? Serious gas.
- Anrich Nortje & Umran Malik: These newer guys hitting crazy numbers consistently now.
Honestly? The stats felt kinda… jumbled. Different sites listed slightly different speeds, sometimes km/h, sometimes mph. Had to squint and compare.
Speed Guns & Reality Checks
Watched some slow-mo replays. That little speed gun graphic popping up in the corner? Not always precise, turns out. Read some forum rants (entertaining stuff) about how the placement of these things actually matters. Is the gun measuring the ball right out the hand? Or midway? Big difference! Like reporting your car’s max speed while coasting downhill.
And speed demons? They don’t always get it right. Bouncers that whizz past the batter’s head look fast, sure, but the real record-breakers tend to be the fuller deliveries hitting the wicketkeeper’s gloves hard. Made me rewatch some deliveries thinking, “Did that sound faster?”
The IPL Speed Kings
Dug deeper on recent IPL seasons. Nortje’s name keeps popping up. Remembered him hurling a 156.22 km/h rocket a few years back? Yeah, that record seems solid. And Umran? Pure Indian pace factory. Consistently hitting 150+ clicks is wild.
Then saw Dale Steyn’s name buried in old lists. Made me chuckle thinking, “Right, the beautiful action guy used to fire them too!” Before he became all swing finesse.
Flipped to the other side. Found lists for the slower bowlers too. Like, come on, Sunil Narine! Mysterious spinner dude. His quickest? Barely hitting medium-pace. And Shardul Thakur? His balls ain’t rockets, but he gets wickets when it counts.
My Big Takeaway
Speed’s exciting, no lies there. Watching those bolts fly? Pure adrenaline. Everyone loves seeing those numbers flash “150+”. But sitting here thinking about it now… hitting top speed consistently AND bowling with accuracy? That’s the real magic trick. One-off crazy numbers? Fun trivia. But doing it over and over, match after match, that separates the legends.
Honestly? Total shocker was realizing how rare that pure pace actually is. Only a tiny handful manage it without wrecking their bodies. And finding stats felt messy – you really gotta cross-check sources, feels like detective work sometimes. Fun dive though!
yadanarbon 