Rajasthan Royals keep their calm to emerge victorious over Knight Riders in a rare Super Over tie

Rajasthan Royals players celebrate after winning a Super Over tie

Some clever thinking from Steve Smith and Shane Watson, and confused captaincy from KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir resulted in the Super Over result ending in a rare tie between Rajasthan Royals and KKR. RR, having scored more boundaries in the match, emerged the winner.

Chasing 153, Kolkata Knight Riders reached 152/8 after 20 overs.

In the Super Over after the tie, James Faulkner’s accuracy kept KKR’s score to only 11. A brilliant Sunil Narine then kept Shane Watson and Steve Smith to only 9 runs off the first 5 deliveries.

With 3 runs to win off the last ball, the rules clearly stated that in case of a Super Over tie, the team with more boundaries in the match would emerge victor.

Till that period RR had scored 19 boundaries, in comparison to KKR’s 15 (including the Super Over). There was a mid-pitch discussion between Shakib-al-Hasan, Gautam Gambhir and the umpires, probably about the rules in case of a Super Over tie, but Gambhir decided to keep the gaps in the field open.

Smith coolly nudged it into one of those giant spaces on the off side and completed 2 comfortable runs, clinching a victory for Rajasthan.

Champions League T20 last year saw had seen a similar tie after a Super Over when Jimmy Neesham’s heroics led to Otago Volts’ victory. In 2010, Barbados had won a tied Super Over against Combined Colleges and Campuses in a T20 match. The first ever instance of this rule being applied was in the 2010 ICC Women’s World T20 match between Australia and England, when Australia emerged victorious, having scored more sixes (the rule earlier stated counting of sixes, instead of total boundaries).

---

Earlier in the match, Rajasthan Royals chose to bat first and put up a competitive 152/5 on board after 20 overs. Ajinkya Rahane top scored with a 59-ball 72, while Shane Watson (33) and Sanju Samson (20) chipped in with some useful contributions.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ chase was led by skipper Gambhir, who finally got some runs against his name, having registered scores of 0,0,0 and 1 in his last four innings. Gambhir, having scored 45 off 44 before giving deep mid wicket an easy catch.

With almost 10 runs per over required off the last 5 overs, Suryakumar Yadav took charge and along with Shakib-al-Hasan, stitched a quickfire partnership which almost took them to the doorsteps of victory.

With just 16 runs to defend off the last 2 overs, Watson gave the ball to birthday boy James Faulkner, who delivered an excellent over, conceding only 4 runs and picking 3 wickets – including that of the dangerous Yadav – and missed his hat-trick by a whisker.

Having started poorly with a full-toss outside off-stump, Kane Richardson managed to concede only 11 off the last over, resulting in a tie.

BRIEF SCORES:

RR 152/5 (Rahane 72, Watson 33; Vinay Kumar 2/30) & 11/0

beat

KKR 155/8 (Gambhir 45, Suryakymar Yadav 31; James Faulkner 3/11) & 11/2

in Super Over eliminator on boundary count back rule

Man of the Match: James Faulkner