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On Wednesday, April 16, the match number 32 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, played beetwen Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi was nothing short of a cracker jacker. After winning the toss and electing to field first, the Sanju Samson-led side invited the hosts to put the score first on the board.
On the back of a 37-ball 49 from Abishek Porel, along with crucial contributions from KL Rahul, Tristan Stubbs and Axar Patel, DC posted 188 runs at the loss of five wickets in their stipulated 20 overs. In pursuit of the 189-run target, RR looked comfortable as they ended up leveling the scores in 20 overs, taking the game into a Super Over, the first of this season and also the first in four years.
What is a Super Over in cricket?
As game has now moved to a Super Over, here is what exactly is a super over in cricket. It is known as one-over per side eliminator, used in limited-overs cricket in case of a tied match, to decide the winner. In this, a team gets an additional six balls or an over to bat, to score more runs than the opposition, irrespective of the number of wickets lost.
In the Super Over, each team gets two wickets to play a six-ball innings, and it is considered complete once two batters are dismissed. If a Super Over ends in a tie, the subsequent Super Overs get played until a winner emerges.
During the illustrious history of cricket, the first use of Super Over in men’s T20I cricket happened on December 26, 2008. On this occasion, West Indies scored 25/1 in six balls, and in response, New Zealand got only 15/2 from five balls, to lose the match by 10 runs in the super over.
