When Sri Lanka's batsmen Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne were defying the New Zealand bowling attack, something very weird happened. It was Chandimal who was facing Neil Wagner and the latter ran in to bowl to the former. Chandimal played and missed the ball but the speed counter instantly flashed - 160 kmph!
One would find it very hard to believe that Wagner bowling at that fiery pace. The fastest ball in the history of cricket was bowled by Mitchell Starc few days ago when Australia took on the Black Caps in the second Test at the WACA.
Wagner, who usually bowls at an average speed of around 130-135 kmph, bowled a 160 kmph delivery to Chandimal, who also played and missed. Hard to believe right?
Let us have a look at what actually happened when Wagner ran into bowl to Chandimal on Day 2 of the 1st Test match:
Neil Wagner's 160km/h delivery. #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/fx5ZvH1n0m
— Taimoor Zaman (@taimoorza) December 11, 2015
According to stuff.co.nz, a member of the production team came up with an explanation later in the day that it must be a bird which came in the way of one of the two speed guns in use at Dunedin's University Oval Stadium. The source also added that it could be a laser as well.
The world misunderstood the entire situation and started posting on social media that Wagner joins Shoaib Akhtar and Starc in the 160 kmph league. Twitter showed mixed reactions on Friday after the incident came to light.
Let us check some of the tweets about Wagner's '160 kmph ball':
Neil Wagner clocked at 160km/h against Sri Lanka - https://t.co/JzFdTB3Vni pic.twitter.com/KdBVId94Br
— nzherald (@nzherald) December 11, 2015
'Whatever Mitchell Johnson can do, I can do better' @NeilWagner13 @BLACKCAPS pic.twitter.com/itoaTKi2g8 — Guy Heveldt (@GuyHeveldt) December 10, 2015
#NZvSL Bird or laser? Neil Wagner's 160 kmph ball cues disbelief @BLACKCAPS @mstarc56 https://t.co/Dn3WYtRqJG pic.twitter.com/9q9n4yKv2Q
— TOI Sports News (@TOISportsNews) December 11, 2015
Look, if the speed gun says Neil Wagner bowled at 160 km/h, then who are we to doubt the technology? — Bob Bamber Cricket (@CricketFanBob) December 11, 2015
Good heat from @NeilWagner13 overnight... @BLACKCAPS. @OtagoVolts #NZvSL #cricket pic.twitter.com/0DtMwf95rV
— Steven Hirst | CricX (@cricketagency) December 11, 2015
When Starc bowled the fastest delivery to Ross Taylor during the second Test match at WACA in Perth, former New Zealand batsman and current batting coach Craig Macmillan had said that the delivery looked like other ones from Starc.
"That delivery came out of nowhere and looked pretty similar to a lot of deliveries through the day that were closer to 150 than 160. I'm not sure if maybe the wrong button was pushed. But you'd have to ask Rosco whether it felt 10km/h quicker than any other delivery he faced," Macmillan told reporters.