Mayank Yadav's 'fastest ball' sparks confusion over Coetzee's 157.4kph record, but here's why Indian retains top spot

On Tuesday, Mayank Yadav recorded a speed of 156.7kph during the 2024 Indian Premier League match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The Lucknow Super Giants pacer has made a blistering start to his career in the league; he made his debut with the franchise last week against the Punjab Kings, announcing his arrival in style with brilliant figures of 3/27 in four overs.

In Bengaluru, he bettered his figures, conceding just 14 runs off his quota of overs while picking three wickets again; two of his dismissals included the star Australian duo of Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green.

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Confusion arose in the IPL when discrepancies emerged regarding the recorded speeds of bowlers. On Tuesday, Gerald Coetzee of the Mumbai Indians garnered attention for allegedly clocking a staggering 157.4kph, propelling him to the top of the list for the fastest deliveries of the season. However, when Mayank bowled a delivery at 156.7kph just a day later, Coetzee's name mysteriously vanished from the updated rankings.

Surprisingly, it was Mayank who found himself at the pinnacle of the speed charts, overtaking Coetzee to claim the top spot and secure fourth place overall. A graphic from the Indian Premier League -- posted on their official X, formerly Twitter, account, showed that Shaun Tait remained the fastest in the league with 157.7kph speed, while Lockie Ferguson (157.3kph) and Sunrisers Hyderabad's Umran Malik (157kph) followed at second and third, with Mayank being at the fourth spot.

To add to the confusion, a graphic during the match showed Coetzee at third position in the season with a speed of 152.3kph, an inconsistency compounded by the fact that the alleged delivery was purportedly bowled against a team that Mumbai Indians had not faced in the season thus far.

The delivery is shown to have been recorded against the ‘Kings’ when MI have neither faced the Punjab Kings nor the Chennai Super Kings in the season.

So, who is the fastest?

ESPNCricinfo, in their coverage of MI's match against the Royals, stated that the speedometer was at fault in Coetzee's speed reading, adding that the actual speed of his delivery in the game was “around 141kph.”

If true, this clears the doubts over Mayank being the fastest.

But what about the faulty graphic that claims Coetzee bowling against the Punjab Kings? Well, this is one for the IPL's graphic team to answer. Mumbai Indians have played three matches in the tournament so far – against the Guajrat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the Rajasthan Royals.