The Indian Premier League has been a wonderful place to showcase one’s talent. It has lived up to the slogan, “Where talent meets opportunity”. It is also the place that gives an opportunity as no other platform does. The Indian Premier League has seen the cream of the world go up against each other.
The league has been a breeding ground and a sort of finishing school for youngsters. The league has been a melting pot of cultures where people from different countries meet together and exchange the best ways, ideas and methods to become more effective and better cricketers. The coaches are also an integral part of Cricket that help the players to become better and manage themselves in a productive way.
The cricketers are living in an environment with packed schedules in international cricket and also with the IPL window getting bigger, they need sports psychologists to help them manage themselves in a better state. The examples are Paddy Upton and Chitanya Sridhar who have been associated with franchises for some time. As things stand, let us take a look at the five fastest bowlers in the IPL history:
5. Kagiso Rabada – Kagiso Rabada from South Africa could breathe fire and make the ball talk. He has been brilliant in the Indian Premier League and his mouth-staggering records speak for themselves. He has picked up 99 wickets in the Indian Premier League. He also bowled a very fast delivery in one of the editions at 154.43 km/h. He picked up 30 wickets in the 2020 edition which was his highest number of wickets picked in one season.
4. Dale Steyn – Dale Steyn is known as the ‘Steyn Gun’, the speedster from South Africa was always one of the fastest bowlers in the history of the IPL. He had superb duels with Ab de Villiers in the Indian Premier League and he has been one of the evergreen players in the Indian Premier League. He had bowled a ball that had clocked 154.40 km/h on the speedometer.
3. Anrich Nortje – Anrich Nortje has made heads turn by bowling some scorchers in the Indian Premier League ever since he made his debut in 2020 for the Delhi franchise. He has been an integral part of the side since then and was even retained in the 2022 auction ahead of Kagiso Rabada who went to the Punjab franchise. His highest speed in the epic tournament has been 156.22 kmph and it remains to be seen if he could break the record anytime soon.
2. Umran Malik – Umran Malik was a find for the Hyderabad franchise. He played three games for the Orange Army and was a fantastic pick for them in the 2021 season. He then played a full season in 2022 under the mentorship of Dale Steyn where he picked up 22 wickets in 14 matches. He has bowled with speeds of 150 Kmph upwards and is looking dangerous with every passing game. He has been the new pace bowling find for India, given that the pacer is being backed ahead of the 50-over World Cup to be held in India in 2023.
1. Shaun Tait – Shaun Tait has been one of the fastest bowlers in IPL history and he has bowled with speeds of 157.71 Km/h once. The tearaway Australian quick had a short burst at the Indian Premier League for the Rajasthan franchise having picked up 23 wickets for the franchise. With his unorthodox action, he could surprise batters and rattle the openers, given that he is one of the very few bowlers to have touched the 160km/h mark in international cricket.
