Hasan Ali had a good day at the office after a series of ordinary performances in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup. Ali took three wickets for 22 runs in his quota of four overs to help restrict Bangladesh to 127/9 in the first T20I of three-T20I series. However, it is not his comeback spell with the ball but his bowling speed that has been making headlines.
In the first clash of the series, the broadcaster showed that the Pakistan pacer bowled a 219kmph delivery. The screenshots of the bowling speed started making rounds on social media. Even in miles per hour, it showed 136.1mph which baffled cricket fans. The delivery looked nothing like the fastest ball ever bowled in the game of cricket. It looked more like a 136.1 kmph delivery and there was clearly a malfunction in the broadcast or speedometer.
Not just Ali’s bowling speed but Mohammad Nawaz who is a left-arm spinner bowled a 148.1 kmph delivery, as per the broadcast. However, it looked more likely to be a 92mph delivery, the number it showed in mph.
The record for the fastest ball belongs to Shoaib Akhtar. In 2003, Akhtar bowled a 161.3 kmph delivery to England batter Nick Knight at Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa. The 18-year-old record is yet to be broken.
This is not the first time speedometer or broadcast has malfunctioned. In Under-19 World Cup 2020, Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana bowled a 175kmph delivery, as per the broadcast. The Lankan pacer with a sling action similar to Lasith Malinga bowled a short delivery to Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal but it looked nowhere near a 175kmph delivery.
