Rajasthan Royals’ teenaged wiry pacer Kartik Tyagi cranked up the speeds in his early spell against the Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match on Sunday, with his fastest ball being timed 147.9kmph.
Tyagi is not the only Indian to have impressed one and all in the ongoing T20 tournament. While seasoned pros like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are only adding to their reputations, the likes of Tyagi, Arshdeep, Kamlesh Nagarkotti, and Navdeep Saini among others have put in valuable shifts for their teams.
Saini continues to be ranked among the fastest Indian bowlers. At the moment, he is at the 13th place in the fastest ball list, having clocked 147.92kmph in one of the three matches he has played in this IPL.
Tyagi, 19, was handed the ball for the first time by captain Steve Smith to bowl the fifth over in which he bowled four balls above the 140kmph mark.
A member of the Indian team for the 2020 under-19 World Cup, Tyagi’s fifth ball of the over, to Suryakumar Yadav, was timed 147.9kmph on Sunday. It was, however, short of a length just outside off stump that Suryakumar put away for four.
Tyagi was brought back for the 11th over and ended up delivering the wicket that his team had been looking for the in-form Ishan Kishan’s. While his first two balls in the over crossed 140kmph, he then pulled back to 127.7kmph, before sending the fourth ball of the over at just a mark below 140kmph. The delivery did the trick as he dismissed Kishan and thus ended a blossoming 83-run partnership between Ishan and Suryakumar.
A right-arm pacer from Uttar Pradesh, Tyagi made his IPL debut this season, in RR’s previous match against Mumbai Indians, and got his first wicket in his very first over, accounting for the wicket of Quinton de Kock.
Tyagi’s teammate from that tournament, Arshdeep Singh, also made his mark on Saturday for Kings XI Punjab, playing an integral role in the team extraordinarily defending a target of 127 against SunRisers Hyderabad.
Unlike Arshdeep, however, the speeds and the wicket of Kishan were the only positive notes of an otherwise forgettable day for Tyagi. While his 16th overproduced only five runs, it featured a dropped catch off Hardik Pandya off the last ball.
Pandya was on six off seven balls and he took off after that. Tyagi was brought back to bowl the last over of the innings when he bore the brunt of Pandya’s carnage and ended up conceding 27 runs in the over.
