Shoaib Akhtar Fastest Ball | Fastest Bowlers in Cricket History

Shoaib Akhtar fastest ball – Known as Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhtar is the fastest bowler to have played cricket. His track record depicts how good a bowler he was.

Shoaib Akhtar fastest ball

Let’s look at the fastest ball bowled by Shoaib Akhtar.

1. 161.3 kph vs England, 2003 

Shoaib Akhtar’s fastest ball came during ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 clash against England. The right-arm pacer created the world record for the fastest delivery in the world when he clicked 161.3 kph while bowling to English opener Nick Knight. He still holds the record of fastest ball being bowled in cricket.

2. 161 kph vs New Zealand, 2002

Shoaib Akhtar’s second fastest ball saw saw him becoming the first bowler to in the world to cross the 100 mph (160kmh) barrier twice in cricket. The Pakistani speedster recored 161 kph in the third match of the ODI series between Pakistan and New Zealand on April 27, 2002 at Lahore while bowling to Craig McMillan.

3. 159.9 kph vs New Zealand, 2002

2002 home series vs New Zealand saw the best of Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar. He bowled some fiery spells and left the visitors in all sorts of trouble. Shoaib Akhtar’s third fastest ball came during the first match in Karachi when he recoded 159.9 kph. He ran through the Kiwi batting line and took 6 wickets in the match, conceding only 16 runs.

Related: Best Bowling figures in ODI

4. 159.5 kph vs Sri Lanka, 2002

Shoaib Akhtar’s fourth fastest ball came in a match against Sri Lanka during the Sharjah cup in 2002. Even though he conceded most runs among his teammates in that match but he bowled a 159.5 kph delivery during that match but couldn’t help his side win the match.

5. 159 kph vs Sri Lanka, 2002

Another match of Sharjah cup saw Shoaib Akhtar’s fifth fastest ball in cricket. Defending the target of 296, the right-arm pacer bowled a sensational spell, taking 3 wickets that helped his side bowled out the opposition for just 78 runs. During that spell he clocked a thunderbolt of 159 kph. 

Related Most 5 wickets haul in test

Shoaib Akhtar represented Pakistan in 46 Tests, 163 ODIs, and 15 T20Is. He took 178 wickets in the longest format of the game and also bagged 247 in 50-over format to go with 19 T20I wickets.