A technical glitch during the live broadcast of the IPL 2026 match between RCB and DC showed that ace pacer Mukesh Kumar delivered a ball at only 42 kilometres per hour at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Saturday, April 18. Now Mukesh is someone who bowls usually in excess of 135 kph while also having the ability to clock 140+ at times, so the visuals were quite shocking.
Fans were quick to notice the surprising pace displayed by the speed gun and soon realised that it was indeed a technical glitch. Notably, Mukesh bowled a fairly impressive spell, giving away only 32 runs from his four overs at a frugal economy of 8.00, and also picked up an important wicket of RCB captain Rajat Patidar, while the latter was batting at eight.
Courtesy of some tight bowling from all ends, DC managed to restrict RCB to only 175 for 8 at the end of 20 overs, which eventually proved to be a subpar total, as the visitors chased the target with six wickets in hand. Apart from Mukesh, paceman Lungi Ngidi was also fairly impressive for his two wickets while giving away 39. Ngidi opened up on the bowling plans at the end of the first innings.
“(On his slower balls) Yeah, I’ve committed to giving it a lot more airtime and obviously putting a lot more revs on it. I saw earlier they put up the arm speeds on the board. And I was pleased to see that because that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. No change in the action, no change in my arm speed, just a different trajectory and obviously getting reps on it to dip,” Ngidi told on air.
“(On the pitch) It was a little bit sticky upfront. I don’t know if you saw, but I just went cross-seam and it seemed like a few were standing up and a few were squatting down. At the back end here now, the slower ball seemed to be gripping, so it definitely has slowed down. It is a slow wicket as well. And with the running on it, I think it might spin a little bit,” the South African pacer added.
“(On restricting RCB to 175) Yeah, look, every time we come here we hear 200 is the par score, so anything below that we’ll definitely take. We probably could have shaved a few more off that 170, but, solid effort by the boys and we’ll take that,” the experienced cricketer concluded.
