INDORE: Right-arm pacer Navdeep Saini was absolutely menacing during India's emphatic seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second T20I played at the Holkar Stadium.
The tearaway fast bowler had the Lankan batters in all kinds of discomfort during most part of his four-over spell in which he had figures of 2/18, including 13 dots. During the course of his spell, the 27-year-old bowled at ferocious pace and helped India restrict Sri Lanka at 142/9 which the hosts chased down quite comfortably. In fact, he even breached the 150-kmph barrier during the period of the Sri Lankan innings when he bowled to Oshada Fernando.
Earlier, he had bowled a 148kmph yorker to crash into the middle-and-leg stumps of opener Danushka Gunathilaka.
"I am gaining confidence with both white ball and red ball," Saini had said after being adjudged Man of the Match on Tuesday.
"When I made my T20I debut, I wanted to bowl fast, but now I know the importance of the slower deliveries," he added.
It's for Saini's sheer pace that Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had shelled out Rs 3 crore in the 2018 IPL auction.
The fastest delivery ever bowled by an Indian pacer is said to be that of Jasprit Bumrah when he clocked 153kmph during India's tour of Australia last year.
Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, also part of the current Indian pace attack, have both clocked in excess of 152 kmph in the past.
Overall, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar holds the record for bowling the fastest delivery ever in the history of the game. He had clocked in excess of 161kmph against England in 2003.