Gerald Coetzee, the fast bowler for the Mumbai Indians, may not have lived up to the hype just yet—he has only taken three wickets in three IPL 2024 matches, including a wicketless performance against the Rajasthan Royals on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium—but the South African star made history on My 11 Circle when he overtook Mayank Yadav to record the fastest delivery in IPL history.
Barely two nights prior, in the Lucknow Super Giants match versus Punjab Kings, bowler Mayank of the Lucknow Super Giants made his debut. He surprised PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan with a delivery that clocked 155.8 kmph. With three wickets at a cost of 27 runs and nine over-150 thunderbolts, the young dafabet India pacer wowed the cricket community throughout his outstanding middle-overs effort.
On Monday, though, Coetzee smashed Betway record with a 157.4 kmph snorter in the IPL 2024 match against Rajasthan. The ball soared high over the wicketkeeper’s head for a boundary in the final ball of Rajasthan’s victorious chase at the Wankhede thanks to a top-edge from Riyan Parag, who had just celebrated his half-century.
Not only did Coetzee top the IPL 2024 charts with that scorcher against the Royals, but also entered the all-time IPL list, albeit missing out on the 13-year-old record by Shaun Tait by a whisker. The Australian legend’s 2011 IPL delivery of 157.71 kmph keeps him at the top.
Coetzee was roped in by Mumbai the mini-auction last December following his heroics at the 2023 World Cup in India, where he had become the first-ever South Africa bowler to pick 20 wickets in a single edition of the 50-over event. His breakthrough SA20 season last year, in which he took 23 wickets, came before this. However, the right-armer has so have managed only three wickets in three matches for Mumbai at an economy rate of 11.43