IPL 2025 produced its first Super Over on Wednesday (April 16) between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Arun Jaitely Stadium.
RR tied with DC’s first innings score of 188, resulting in the match going into the one-over eliminator, where the home team emerged victorious.
Nitish Rana was the stand-out batter for the visitors during the run chase, scoring 51 off 28 balls with six boundaries and two sixes. However, the Royals sent Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Super Over.
As it turned out, RR could not even complete the six balls as they lost two wickets and scored 11. DC chased own the target of 12 runs in four deliveries, with KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs leading the charge.
After the game, cricket experts Cheteshwar Pujara, Ian Bishop and Shane Watson questioned the Rajasthan management’s decision to not use Nitish in Super Over.
According to Pujara, RR should have sent Jaiswal as an opener in the Super Over against DC pacer Mitchell Starc and Rana should have been the third batter.
“I think Nitish should have been there in those three,” Pujara told ESPNcricinfo. “But I don’t know whether he should have started. I would want Jaiswal to start because of the way he bats against Mitchell Starc - his record [against Starc] has been phenomenal across formats [26 runs from 15 balls without a dismissal in T20s and 133 from 203 with three dismissals in Tests].
“I know it was the Super Over and Starc was just trying to execute his yorkers, but there’s a psychological advantage. If Yashasvi had faced a few balls, then Starc would have been under some pressure.”
Bishop endorsed Pujara’s views on Jaiswal, and the former West Indies cricketer also suggested that Rana’s “silky skill” could have been handy for RR.
“I like Jaiswal at the top there, but I am biased towards Nitish Rana as well,” Bishop said. “I would not mind Rana’s silky skill to come in there, not necessarily raw power.”
Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was also left baffled by RR’s tactic to not send Nitish Rana in the Super Over despite the southpaw being in top form.
“There were some brainfade moments as there were couple of run-outs. We kept on saying what wrong has Nitish Rana done that he was not sent in the Super Over. You have a batter who is set and has scored runs. In that case, not sending him made no sense,” Watson said.
With this defeat, Rajasthan Royals slipped to eighth spot on the 10-team points table, with only two wins to their name from seven matches. On the other hand, Delhi Capitals climbed to the pole position with five wins from six matches.
