On a moist Saturday evening on the Narendra Modi Stadium, the Indian Premier League discovered its latest velocity service provider. Gujarat Titans’ uncapped pacer Ashok Sharma produced a spell of visceral quick bowling, clocking a staggering 154.2 kph, the quickest supply of the 2026 season, to go away Rajasthan Royals breathless.
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The record-breaking second got here within the sixteenth over, as Ashok Sharma steamed in to Dhruv Jurel. He fired in a searing yorker that Jurel managed to maintain out simply in time, bringing his bat down on the final prompt. Nonetheless, the Rajasthan wicketkeeper-batsman had no concept the place the ball had gone after making contact.
Remarkably, Ashok delivered the quickest ball of the season regardless of having suffered a blow to his finger on the earlier supply. He required therapy with an ice pack after trying to cease a fierce straight drive from Donovan Ferreira, which had been struck straight again at him.
It was not merely a solitary burst of tempo. The 23-year-old maintained sustained hostility, breaching the 150 kph mark on three separate events throughout his four-over spell.
Regardless of Rajasthan Royals posting a formidable 210 for six, powered by Jurel’s 75 and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 55, Sharma remained the standout narrative for Gujarat Titans. He completed with figures of 1 for 37, additionally offering the essential breakthrough of Shimron Hetmyer, who was trying to speed up after being handed a reprieve on nought.
On Saturday, legendary Dale Steyn dissected his bowling motion on air, noting that the 23-year-old’s run-up was swift and highly effective, whereas he delivered together with his head regular and eyes firmly mounted on the pitch. Steyn added that his front-leg brace was near-perfect, making it one of many smoother actions amongst specific quick bowlers.
FASTEST DELIVERIES OF IPL 2026
- Ashok Sharma – 154.2 kph
- Anrich Nortje – 150.9
- Kartik Tyagi – 149.7
- Kagiso Rabada – 149.1
FASTEST DELIVERIES BOWLED BY INDIANS IN THE IPL
- Umran Malik – 157 kph for SRH in 2022
- Mayank Yadav – 156.7 kph for LSG in 2024
- Ashok Sharma – 154.2 kph for GT in 2026
Who’s Ashok Sharma?
Ashok Sharma’s IPL debut got here earlier this week in opposition to Punjab Kings on March 31. True to his popularity, his very first supply within the league was clocked at 149.7 kph. His maiden IPL wicket adopted quickly after, when he bowled a intelligent back-of-the-hand slower ball to dismiss Marco Jansen in Gujarat’s opening match of the season in Mullanpur. He completed with figures of 1 for 31 in that recreation, incomes reward from captain Shubman Gill.
“He is somebody who works very arduous on his recreation and he is a fairly good fielder for us. I truly met him throughout the camp a few months in the past and I used to be very impressed by the best way he was bowling with the brand new ball as properly,” Gill had stated.
Whereas Sharma had beforehand hung out within the Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals camps with out getting a recreation, Gujarat Titans’ resolution to safe him for ₹90 lakh within the 2026 public sale is already trying like a masterstroke. Now the quickest man within the league, the boy who as soon as virtually traded his spikes for a plow has turn out to be probably the most feared sights within the event.
Ashok Sharma’s rise from the village of Rampura, close to Jaipur, is rooted in a poignant household story. Rising up in a modest farming family, monetary constraints meant his father, Nathulal, may solely assist one son’s cricketing ambitions. In a selfless act of sacrifice, Ashok’s elder brother, Akshay Sharma, selected to step away from his personal promising cricket profession, as reported by The Occasions of India.
Akshay moved away from the sport and targeted on farming and training, convincing their dad and mom to permit Ashok to pursue cricket wholeheartedly.
Nonetheless, the journey was removed from easy.
Simply three years in the past, pissed off by an absence of alternatives within the state’s Beneath-23 circuit, Ashok was on the verge of quitting the game. He had begun making ready for presidency job examinations and helping his father on the household farm, resigned to a life away from the 22 yards.
His fortunes modified on a whim when he attended a expertise hunt. Arriving after registrations had closed, he pleaded with officers for only one supply. Bowling in slippers, he clocked 140 kph, a feat that instantly caught the eye of veteran scouts.
Earlier than his record-breaking evening in Ahmedabad, Sharma had already made his mark in home cricket. Through the 2025–26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he emerged because the event’s breakout star, claiming 22 wickets in simply 10 matches. He additionally broke a decade-old file for probably the most wickets in a single group stage, underlining that his uncooked tempo was complemented by a pointy wicket-taking intuition.
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