Top 5 super-overs in IPL history

#2 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals, 2009

Rajasthan Royals celebrating Gayle’s wicket

Both these teams have locked horns in a super-over two times over the nine editions of the IPL and both of them have been sensational. Let us talk about the first ever super-over of the Indian Premier League, which took place at Cape Town in the second edition of the IPL in 2009.

Shane Warne’s electric stop off the last ball of the KKR innings ensured that Ishant Sharma could only score a run instead of the couple that were required to win the match. The scores were tied at 150 each. Gayle and Brendon McCullum walked in to the centre in the super-over against an inspired Kamran Khan.

Gayle did what he does the best to score three consecutive 4s to set up a stiff target of 16 for Warne and company. Little did they know that Yusuf Pathan would end up doing it all alone in just 4 deliveries!

Super-over	KKR	RR
Ball 1	1	6
Ball 2	1	2
Ball 3	4	6
Ball 4	Wide 4	4
Ball 5	4	-
Ball 6	W	-
Total	15	18

What made the target accessible to the Royals was the mind-blowing catch taken to dismiss Gayle on the last delivery of the super-over. If that would’ve been a boundary, the target would’ve gone almost out of hands for the defending champions.

Brad Hodge dropped Pathan, which proved that catches win matches and drops are too costly in this format of the game. Moreover, handing the super-over to a spinner, even though it was Ajanta Mendis, proved to be too big a gamble yet again.