176.5 km/h! Did Mitchell Starc bowl the fastest ball in ODI history? | Cricket News

In the first ODI between Australia and India, Mitchell Starc set up Virat Kohli beautifully and dismissed him for an eight-ball duck, but that was not the highlight of his spell. Instead, it was a delivery to Rohit Sharma that took the internet by storm – Starc’s very first ball to the Indian skipper was clocked at a staggering 176.5 kmph, perhaps the fastest ever recorded in ODI history.The speed gun’s graphic showed a staggering 176.5 km/h (109 mph), but this was clearly an error. Fortunately, graphs from other broadcasters later confirmed that the actual speed was 140.8 km/h (just over 87 mph), exactly around Starc’s usual pace.

Indian veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were on the receiving end after their disappointing performance in the first ODI of the three-match series against Australia. The duo went to bat in Perth after seven months.The veterans, who returned to international cricket for the first time since India’s Champions Trophy victory earlier last March, gave plenty of reasons for fans and pundits to be disappointed with their tough show.

Rohit Sharma (Screenshot)

Opening the innings after being put into bat first, Rohit scored just eight runs off 14 balls before Josh Hazlewood dismissed him. After the former Indian captain’s disappointing innings, all eyes were on Kohli as fans hoped he would help India recover from an early defeat.However, Kohli also failed to deliver on his promises and was dismissed cheaply for an eight-ball duck. This was the first time Kohli was dismissed for no score in ODI cricket in Australia.

“Never easy when you lose three wickets in the powerplay, you’re always trying to catch up. There were a lot of learnings and positives as well,” Gill said after the match.It was India’s first ODI defeat of 2025, ending their streak of eight successive victories.