Did Starc break Shoaib Akhtar's record for world's fastest delivery?

PERTH: Australia ace pacer Mitchell Starc was captured bowling a 176.5 km/h delivery in the ongoing first ODI against India here at the Perth Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

The left-arm pacer’s opening delivery to opener Rohit Sharma was clocked at a stunning 176.5kph. Soon after, fans were in awe, wondering if Starc had shattered Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar’s long-standing record for bowling the fastest-ever delivery in international cricket.

However, it was later revealed that the recorded speed was incorrect as the bowling speed gun malfunctioned.

For the unversed, Shoaib Akhtar holds the record for the fastest delivery in international cricket— 161.3 km/h, which he bowled against England during the 2003 World Cup.

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India has set 137 in a game reduced to 26 overs per side due to rain, courtesy of KL Rahul, 38 from 31 balls, studded with two fours and two sixes.

For Australia, Mitchell Starc was on song from the start, removing India’s ace Virat Kohli for a duck, which set the tone early for Australia to dictate terms in a rain-hit encounter.

Overall, Mitchell Starc bowled six overs and gave away 22 runs while taking one wicket.

Playing XIs

India 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill (capt), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Axar Patel, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Nitish Reddy, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Australia 1 Travis Head, 2 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 3 Matt Short, 4 Josh Philippe (wk), 5 Matt Renshaw, 6 Mitch Owen, 7 Cooper Connolly, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Matt Kuhnemann, 11 Josh Hazlewood

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