First-ever historic double super over between MI and KXIP
The concept of super over has made the limited-overs game interesting and we have seen our share of super overs in the IPL as well. After the ICC 2019 World Cup final fiasco, the cricketing body tweaked the rules to ensure that consequent super overs are played in case of ties and matches are not decided on boundary count.
We were yet to see more than one super over in a match, but that all changed when Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) clashed in the 36th match of the ongoing IPL 2020 in Dubai. Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bat first. Thanks to Quinton de Kock’s fifty and valuable knocks from Krunal, Pollard, and Coulter-Nile, MI managed 176/6 in their 20 overs.
In reply, KL Rahul made 77, while Pooran and Gayle hit 24 runs each. When the game got close, Deepak Hooda’s 23* and Chris Jordan’s 13* enabled KXIP to tie the match, as Jordan got run out going for two in order to win the match.
KXIP batted first in the super over and scored 5 runs, as Jasprit Bumrah dismissed KL Rahul and Nicholas Pooran, ending their innings. However, a spirited Mohammad Shami took it upon himself to defend five runs and decided to bowl only yorkers.
IPL 2020: WATCH- "It has to go down in history," says Mayank Agarwal on KXIP's double super over win
The plan worked as Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock found it hard to get the full balls away and in the end, De Kock got run out trying to take a double to win the super over. This resulted in the first-ever tie in the super over and warranted another one in order to decide the winner.
The second super over saw Kieron Pollard hitting a four and making 11 runs with MI losing Hardik Pandya’s wicket to Chris Jordan. Defending 12 runs was not a huge task, but MI had Trent Boult bowling, who doesn’t have a good record in death overs. Facing him were Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal.
Gayle hit the first ball from Boult for a six and then Mayank hit two fours to ensure KXIP won the second super over of the day and pocketed the two very important points. This win was one of the four on the trot that KXIP have achieved and which has put them on the path of playoff qualification.
