Super Overs Explained, and the Night the IPL Needed Two
What happens when an IPL match is tied, who bats and bowls in a Super Over, and the famous Sunday in 2020 when one Super Over was not enough.
Most IPL matches are decided long before the last ball. Now and then, though, both teams finish on exactly the same score. When that happens, there is no shared result. The match goes to a Super Over, a one-over shoot-out that can turn a quiet evening into the most talked-about game of the season.
How a Super Over works
- One over each. Both sides get six legal balls.
- Two wickets and you're out. Each side sends out three batters. Losing two wickets ends the innings, even if balls are left.
- Order is reversed. The team that batted second in the match bats first in the Super Over.
- One bowler. The fielding side chooses one bowler for the whole over.
- Tied again? Another Super Over is played, and this continues until there is a winner.
That last rule is fairly new. Before 2020, a tied Super Over was settled by a tie-break. In 2014, a Super Over between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi ended level, and Rajasthan won on the boundary count. Cricket changed the rule after the 2019 World Cup final, which England won on boundaries, and the IPL first needed the new version a year later.
The Sunday of Super Overs
The 2020 season was played in the UAE, and on Sunday 18 October it produced the IPL's most dramatic day.
In the afternoon, Kolkata and Sunrisers Hyderabad tied in Abu Dhabi. Lockie Ferguson, who had already taken three wickets in the match, bowled the Super Over and took two more, and Sunrisers finished on just 2. Kolkata won easily.
In the evening, Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab tied on 176 in Dubai. In the first Super Over, Jasprit Bumrah held Punjab to 5, and Mohammed Shami held Mumbai to 5 as well. So they played a second one. Mumbai made 11, and Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal chased it down with two balls to spare. It was the first IPL match ever decided by two Super Overs.
Super Overs to remember
| Season | Match | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | RR v KKR | The IPL's first Super Over, in Cape Town. Rajasthan won. |
| 2019 | DC v KKR | Kagiso Rabada defended 11, bowling Andre Russell with a yorker. |
| 2019 | MI v SRH | Jasprit Bumrah held Sunrisers to 8, and Mumbai won at the Wankhede. |
| 2020 | KKR v SRH | Lockie Ferguson took two wickets in the Super Over, and Sunrisers made only 2. |
| 2020 | KXIP v MI | The first IPL match to need two Super Overs. Punjab won the second. |
| 2021 | DC v SRH | Axar Patel held Sunrisers to 7 in Chennai, and Delhi won. |
| 2025 | DC v RR | Mitchell Starc bowled the last over of the match and the Super Over, and Delhi won. |
The 2020 season alone had four tied matches. Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore also won Super Overs that year, against Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians.
How teams approach it
A Super Over rewards a few specific skills. Batting sides send in their cleanest hitters, and often a left and right-hander together to make the bowler's job harder. Fielding sides usually pick their best death bowler, someone who can land yorkers under pressure, which is why names like Bumrah, Rabada and Starc appear again and again in the list above.
Stats in this story are correct to the end of the 2025 IPL season.
