The first ball of the match, Jofra Archer comes steaming in, a 143km/hr inswinging delivery on a good length, takes Prithvi Shaw’s inside edge and goes to the stumps and Delhi Capitals lose their first wicket at 0.
This was just the start of the exhibition of fast bowling that followed in the next four hours. The first over has speeds of 143, 147, 143, 147, 148 and 147 in km/hr. The next over, Archer came with more rigour and took the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane to peg DC’s batting line-up back. Archer ended with the figures of 3-19 in his four overs.
In the same innings, the 19-year old Kartik Tyagi impressed everyone with his raw pace. After going for 22 runs in his first two overs, Tyagi came back with the figures of 1/8 in his last two, bowling yorkers one after the other at a serious pace.
This was just the trailer to what followed in the second innings. Kagiso Rabada started Delhi’s reply with the ball, and in the first over he clocked speeds of 146, 145, 141, 146, 149 and 151 km/hr. Although, RR openers scored boundaries in the over, the pace generation from Rabada was great to see. But, the moment of the game came in the 3rd over.
The first ball, Anrich Nortje bowled a 148.2 km/hr full delivery, Jos Buttler dispatched it over long-on for a six. Then on the next two deliveries, both around the speeds of 152 km/hr, they took singles. On the 4th ball of the over (146), Buttler scooped it towards the fine-leg boundary for a four. The next one, too, met the same result. However, this ball came at a speed of 156.2 km/hr. This was not just the fastest ball of this edition, it was the fastest in 8 years in the IPL surpassing the record held by his countryman Dale Steyn, who bowled a 154.40 km/hr ball playing for Deccan Chargers in the 2012 edition.
But, Nortje came back with a 155 km/hr good length delivery on the stumps to disturb his timber after going for two fours and a six. He took one more wicket on the evening with a 149 km/hr yorker on the stumps to dismiss Robin Uthappa in the 18th over, to shift the momentum back in his side’s favour.
Not just the three international bowlers, the debutant Tushar Deshpande joined his two DC teammates from South Africa and bowled yorkers at the death at a good pace to take his side to victory.
The sheer pace on the display in the match left fans and experts and pundits jubilant and excited in an era of T20 cricket where the bat dominates the ball. Here are some of the reactions of fans, experts and cricketers:
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