IPL 2018: Top 5 Fastest balls bowled in the first week of the season

The 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is proving to be a highly entertaining season already. The season has commenced just a week ago and the entertainment quotient has already been on the nail-biting level. Some of the matches have gone down the wire and have been absolute thrillers. The fans have already seen a target over 200 being breached successfully, the bowlers scalping three wickets in an over and many such packages. Conventionally, the IPL has always been a tournament renowned for the batting might. The batsmen have often been the talking points during the tournament every year. The shorter boundaries and the flat tracks are largely the reasons for this. When it comes to the bowlers, it has always been the spinners, and the leggies have dominated that sub-section even further in the hierarchy. Very rarely do we see the IPL being highlighted for the fast bowling performances. But the 2018 edition has certainly been different. The pacers are coming up with impressive shows. The likes of Umesh Yadav, Siddarth Kaul, Billy Stanlake, Ben Laughlin, Deepak Chahar, and many more have already made an imprint this season. With the first week of the tournament done and dusted, here we pick the top five fastest balls of the season thus far. Here are the top five fastest balls of the first week of IPL 2018: 5. Ben Stokes (Rajasthan Royals) – 148.43 kmph Ben Stokes of RR. (Photo Source: Twitter) The Rajasthan Royals have a revamped setup in the tournament this year. Among all the players they have, the name that has made the biggest buzz is Ben Stokes. Stokes has been an impact player in world cricket. The Englishman is a tremendous all-rounder who can be impactful in all departments of the game. In the tournament this year, he is yet to leave an impression. However, with the ball in hand, he has managed to clock some serious pace. Albeit he does not boast of too many wickets in the first week of the season, he does feature in the list of bowlers with fastest deliveries. He has clocked speeds in excess of 147 kmph on two occasions thus far. 4. Umesh Yadav (Royal Challengers Bangalore) – 148.98 kmph Umesh Yadav of RCB celebrates a wicket. (Photo Source: Twitter) Royal Challengers Bangalore has been one of the teams in the tournament who have never been known for their bowling performances. But this year, they saw an exceptional spell coming in from Umesh Yadav. The new RCB recruit came up with a thundering spell against the Kings XI Punjab. He returned with figures of 3/23 to his name in four overs. He had come in to bowl in the fourth over of the game. He dismissed the dangerous looking Mayank Agarwal. He then followed it up with a quick delivery to dismiss Aaron Finch, and then cleaned up Yuvraj Singh as well. Umesh has been bowling quick and one of his quickest deliveries in the game clocked 148.98 kmph. 3. Billy Stanlake (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – 149.40 kmph Billy Stanlake. (Photo Source: Twitter) Young Australian pace bowler Billy Stanlake has been a very useful addition to the Sunrisers Hyderabad roster. When the tournament commenced, not many thought that he would make it to the playing eleven. But the management has shown faith in him and he has delivered the goods for his side. Stanlake has been sharing the new ball with Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the franchise. This certainly will be a big learning curve in the career of this young 23-year old cricketer. Stanlake, who averages just over 23 in T20 cricket, has been clocking some serious speeds in the tournament. 2. Billy Stanlake (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – 149.50 kmph Billy Stanlake. (Photo Source: Twitter) Well, Stanlake bags the second honors in the list as well. His fiery pace with the new ball has been working very well for his side. It is worth noting that the youngster is very much aware of his duty in the side. He knows that he is in the side to take wickets and hence, is never shy of trying out his skills to take wickets, even if it comes at a high end cost. “Nice to get out there and get a couple of wickets. My job is pretty simple, to go out there and get wickets,” Stanlake remarked after the most recent victory of the Sunrisers Hyderabad against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Stanlake featured in all the SRH games played in the first week. SRH have won all the three matches played thus far. 1. Billy Stanlake (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – 151.38 kmph Billy Stanlake. (Photo Source: Twitter) And the top honors in the list is Billy Stanlake, again. He has been totally dominating the charts of fastest deliveries in the first week of the IPL 2018. It is worth noting that Stanlake has 7 mentions in the list of top 10 fast balls bowled in the IPL 2018 thus far. The numbers are even more staggering when top 20 in the same list is noticed. Stanlake bags 16 out of the top 20 fast balls bowled this season thus far. This young kid is surely a great talent. More importantly, his good form and pace is rubbing off to the Indian bowlers as well, with the likes of Siddarth Kaul stepping up to the occasion this season. For the latest cricket news, follow CricTracker.

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IPL 2018: Top 5 Fastest balls bowled in the first week of the season

The numbers are for the first week of the tournament - April 7 to April 13.

4. Umesh Yadav (Royal Challengers Bangalore) – 148.98 kmph

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