A 6 ball slog should produce some fireworks from the batting team but on occasion the super over that acts as a tie breaker in the IPL ends in calamity. Here we look at the lowest scores in super overs in the IPL.
Bowled out in the super over in the IPL
The rules of the super over allow only 3 batsmen to take part or in other words 2 wickets to fall before the over is completed. Incredibly, 6 out of the 26 super overs that have been bowled in the IPL have finished with a team losing both wickets before the completion of the over.
Understandably given that they didn’t manage to face all the balls, these super overs are amongst the lowest scoring in IPL history. No side has yet been bowled out in the super over in just 2 deliveries but twice in the IPL’s history a side has lasted just 3 balls!
KXIP, 2 runs in the super over v Delhi Capitals, 2020
There aren’t many finer death bowlers in the IPL at presenet than Kagiso Rabada. The South African quick finished IPL 2020 as the purple cap winner with 30 wickets and 2 of those victims came in the space of 3 balls in this not so super over by Kings XI Punjab.
Of course from a KXIP perspective this game should never have gone to a super over at all with the men in red needing 1 run to win off the final 2 balls but instead offering up 2 catches which resulted in the tie.
No doubt the momentum was with DC as they entered the super over and after KL Rahul hit the first ball for 2 runs the whole thing unravelled. Looking to give himself room, Rahul backed away to the leg side but Rabada spotted him and bowled the ball in towards the batsman’s body. KL Rahul could only manage an ugly looking swipe and the ball ballooned into the leg side for a simple catch.
The batsmen crossed while the ball was in the air and that got young West Indian Nicolas Pooran on strike. He too looked to step away and free his arms but this time Rabada’s response was to bowl fast and full, knocking Pooran’s off-stump out of the ground in the process. Rishabh Pant took 3 deliveries in DC’s reply to knock off the 3 runs needed for victory and that was that. The Capitals won and KXIP set the record for the lowest score in a super over in the IPL.
View the full match highlights of the lowest super over score here
Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2 runs in the super over v KKR, 2020
Just 4 weeks later and the record for the lowest score in a super over in the IPL was equalled by SRH who again only managed to survive 3 balls. This game was very much the Lockie Ferguson show as the New Zealander took 3 wickets in the inital 20 overs and then 2 more in the super over that followed.
It was a topsy turvy game in which KKR fought their way to 163 and at one stage had SRH 109/5 and requiring 55 from the final 28 balls. David Warner who had been moved from his usual opening slot to accommodate the injured Kane Williamson in the powerplay then combined with Abdul Samad to reduce the target to 18 from the last over. Needing 2 from the final delivery Warner could only manage a leg-bye and the game finshed in a tie. Had Warner managed to get the 2 runs required it would have entered the list of most runs scored off the final over to win a match in the IPL.
Warner stepped up for the resulting powerplay but was bowled first ball by Lockie Ferguson who playing his first game of the season was named man of the match. The other hero from the run chase, young Abdul Samad, was the new man in and he clothed his first ball for a couple of runs before being cleaned up by another Ferguson yorker to consign SRH to the joint lowest super over score in the IPL.
Watch highlights of the joint lowest super over score in IPL history here
Lowest scores from completed super overs in the IPL
There have been 3 instances of sides only managing a run a ball or less in a super over in the IPL. 2 of those overs were bowled by the same bowler and 2 of those overs came in the same match! Here is the list of the lowest scores from completed super overs in the IPL.
KXIP and Mumbai Indians, both 5 runs from the super over, 2020
In what is generally referred to now as super over Sunday, this match took place on the same day as the SRH v KKR game noted above. Equally it is the only game in IPL history to feature a double super over after the initial one also ended in a tie. What a shame that there was no crowd in to see it!
Having been in all sorts of trouble early on, MI were thankful to some big hitting from Pollard and Coulter-Nile late in the innings to take them to 172. KL Rahul anchored KXIP’s reply but they were left tantalisingly short of victory as Chris Jordan was run out off the final ball looking for a 2nd run.
Then came the super overs! KXIP batted first but could manage nothing better than a 2 off the brilliant Bumrah and even that came courtesy of an inside edge. Having restricted the opposition to just 5 runs in their super over, MI must have been tasting victory but it wasn’t to be. Mohammed Shami bowled KXIP’s super over and went exclusively for the yorker. While he did nail a couple of good ones the fact that he just missed with a couple of others shows that Mumbai were probably taking the chase a little too casually and it cost them! Requiring 2 off the final ball, de Kock was run out coming back for the 2nd and so we went to another super over.
These ones were somewhat higher scoring but KXIP ultimately ran out the winners in this IPL match that twice witnessed the lowest completed super over score in the IPL!
Watch match highlights here
Gujarat Lions, 6 runs from the super over v Mumbai Indians, 2017
What makes this low score in the super over even more incredible is that it was in fact an eight ball over with Jasprit Bumrah starting with a front foot no-ball and also sending down a wide. Still from the remaining 6 legal deliveries, Gujarat Lions pair Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch only managed 2 runs off the bat and a further 2 byes.
It was a fantastic example of keeping one’s head when everyone else seemed to be losing theirs. Earlier in the game, Bumrah had been one of 2 wickets to fall in the final over as MI were bowled out of the final ball of their innings trying to scamper a single that would have won them the match.
In their super over, MI were then bowled out for 11 after 5 balls but despite giving their opponents 3 more deliveries GL still couldn’t get the win and instead recorded one of the lowest super over scores in IPL history.
Watch match highlights here