April 27 (IndiaToday) – On this day, back in the year 2002, Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar became the first player in history to break the 100-mile barrier. Akhtar, while playing in the third ODI against New Zealand in Lahore, pumped up his horses to bowl the quickest delivery ever recorded in the cricket field at that time.
One of the fastest bowlers to have ever played the game of cricket, tributes poured in for Akhtar on his day of achievement. This wasn’t the only time that Akhtar bowled over 100-miles. In the very next year since this achievement, Akhtar would go onto bowl the quickest delivery ever recorded in cricket’s history against England.
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The speedometer would clock him at 161.3 KMPH, a record that has not been broken ever since. A select few have come close to touching the 161.3 mark, but none have been successful. Akhtar’s rival at the time for the fastest bowler in cricket, Brett Lee came agonisingly close to touching the mark with his 161.1 KMPH delivery, but he could not go faster than that.
Since then, people like Shaun Tait, Mitchell Starc and Jofra Archer have been touted to break the record, but none have.
Akhtar also played in the Indian Premier League with the Kolkata Knight Riders under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly. Akhtar created a lot of hype in practice with his accuracy to hit the stumps, and picked four wickets in a game for the franchise.
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