Even though Sri Lanka had a forgetful outing against India in the ICC U-19 World Cup clash in Bloemfontein on Sunday (January 19), speedster Matheesha Pathirana managed to grab headlines with his ferocious pace.

In fact, Pathirana is believed to have delivered world's fastest ball ever during the match which Sri Lanka lost by 90 runs.

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In the 4th over of the Indian innings, the Islander fast bowler bowled a wide delivery to Yashasvi Jaiswal, which was recorded at 175kph (108mph), making it the fastest recorded ball ever bowled in international cricket across formats and age groups.

But the question cropped up – did the 17-year-old Pathirana actually clock 175 kph on the speed gun or was it an error? Unsurprisingly, he didn’t as it turned out that there was a technical fault in the recording.

Hence, former Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar still owns the record of bowling the fastest-ever delivery in international cricket. During the 2003 World Cup, Akhtar had clocked 161.3kph (100mph) while bowling to England opener Nick Knight.

Fastest deliveries bowled in international cricket:

1. 161.3kph: Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan vs England in 2003 (ODI) at Newlands

2. 161.1kph: Shaun Tait, Australia vs England in 2010 (ODI) at Lord's

3. 161.1kph: Brett Lee, Australia vs New Zealand (ODI) in 2005 at Napier

(Inputs from The Indian Express)