18 matches were played in the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League and all the matches produced result in the stipulated 20 overs. The 19th match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals went into the super over after both the teams managed to end their innings on 152. Even the Super Over ended in a tie which saw Rajasthan Royals won the match on the virtue of scoring more runs in boundaries.
Chasing 153 to victory, all eyes were set on Kolkata skipper Gautam Gambhir who has managed to score just 1 run in four outings. This time around he failed to fail with the bat but lost his fellow opener Manvinder Bisla for 3. Jacques Kallis looked rusty before holing out to Steve Smith off Pravin Tambe for 11.
Gambhir looked to get some runs under his belt and was successful in doing so. Double G batted well for his 45 and got out when his team needed 65 off the last 6 overs. It was when Suryakumar and Shakib joined hands together and stitched a partnership of 49 off 29 balls and brought KKR into the match.
The nineteenth over bowled by Birthday Boy James Faulkner plotted a twist in the tale. The over saw just 2 runs being conceded with 3 wickets going down for the Knight Riders. Suryakumar fell in the first ball of the over and was followed by Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar in the fourth and fifth ball respectively. With 12 needed off the last over, Shakib dispatched the first ball for a boundary before Chawla was run-out the next ball after a miscommunication with the Bangladeshi. When five needed off 3, KKR managed to score just 4 taking the match into the super over.
Deciding to bat after winning the toss, Rajasthan Royals lost their opener Karun Nair cheaply before young sensation Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane steadied the ship with some cautious batting. Samson looked good for a big innings but unfortunately he was castled by Shakib al Hasan for 20. Shane Watson walked in and started attacking from the word go.
As the innings went into the death overs, Watson ran himself out and amidst these, Ajinkya Rahane crossed his half century off 44 balls. Steve Smith provided some late blitz and that propelled Rajasthan Royals to a challenging 152 for 5 in 20 overs. Rahane scored a well-made 72 for the Royals whereas Vinay Kumar and Shakib al Hasan picked two wickets and one wicket respectively.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals: 152-5 in 20 overs (Rahane 72, Watson 33, Vinay Kumar 2-30) beat Kolkata Knight Riders: 152-8 in 20 overs (Gambhir 45, Suryakumar Yadav 31, James Faulkner 3-11) through Super Over
Super Over Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders: 11-1(Suryakumar 0, Shakib 2, Manish Pandey 8*, Faulkner 0-11) lost to Rajasthan Royals: (Steve Smith 5*, Watson 6*, Narine 0-11) on the virtue of scoring more runs in boundaries.