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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

the double tie ~ and the Rajasthan win !

One expects the shortest version of Cricket T20 to be ‘fours & sixers’ – many a times that is not to be …… the deserts of Sharjah have provided some interesting ties ~ and yesterday’s one at Abu dhabi  was a literal tie – a double tie to be precise. IPL is about to shift from UAE to India after 20 matches and 2nd May, at Ranchi will the first match in Indian soil……. Before that yesterday’s match between Rajasthan Royals and Koklata Knight Riders …. it was past midnight ~ and it appeared to be an ‘all Aussie’ show …. Faulkner bowled – Shane Watson played with Steve Smith…
prematch - Ravi Shastri with Gautam Gambhir - photo credit : iplt20.com

Statistically, Rajasthan Royals made  152 for 5 (Rahane 72) tied with Kolkata Knight Riders 152 for 8 (Gambhir 45, Faulkner 3-11) ~ then came the Super Over….. KKR made 12 (yes only 12 in 6 balls) were all out – RR too made 12 – so tie in Super over too. 

Only recently, KKR prevailed in a tense finish, when Chris Lynn with that catch brought a win ~ this match he was dropped in for the Bangladeshi Shakib Al Hasan – who had a role.  Chasing 153 and Gambhir making some runs, it did appear that KKR would win – but Faulkner who had earlier been benched after lacklustre bowling turned out to be bowling hero.  Followers of IPL know him - Suryakumar Yadav and then Shakib almost brought Knight Riders on the doorstep  with a good partnership of 49 off 26 balls ~ but KKR faltered - Faulkner's fourth and fifth deliveries proved to be the icing on his birthday cake as Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar missed straight deliveries to be bowled. Six balls, three wickets and 12 off nine became 12 off 6.  It ended up in a tie and spilled to Super over.  Again, if you imagined at least 2 sixers and 2 fours in the Super over – it was not to be – though it provided much more excitement.  

KKR played first and opened with Suryakumar Yadav and Shakib Al Hasan James Faulkner was he bowler…… 1st ball was dramatic – Yadav moved inside, ball hit the pad – ran like hare – only run out in trying the second.  Manish Pandey came in – took a single; 3rd another single for Shakib – only 3 off first 3 – 4th Pandey slammed over long on for a six. 5th was a good Yorker yielding a single; of the last delivery, they tried a couple but another run out.  So the target as a simple 13.

Steve Smith and Watson came with Stuart Binny padding up.  – runs did not flow either – it was : 1; 2; 1;  4th Watson hoisted and perhaps Pandey was unnecessarily couple of yards inside, jumped could not catch, it was a four.  Another single of the 5th …. 3 off the last ball ! {it was actually different from pure statistics !} ~ the commentator praised Smith as he pushed through extra cover and ran two….but perhaps Gambhir should have had people in saving singles (rather twos) – rather than people manning boundary.  

Before the last ball, there was an animated discussion – with Shakib Al Hasan telling Gambhir something ~ in the post match interview it was revealed that their understanding was that in case of a tie – ‘the team which has hit a six in the super over will win’ … that was poor understanding of the playing conditions.

A Super Over, also called an Eliminator- is the  tie-breaking method used here.  The Super Over is a reduced version of the match that consists only of one over (six balls) and two wickets for each team. The official result of the match would be a "tie" but within the context of the tournament or series, the winning team of the "Super Over" is declared the winner of the match. Runs scored in super overs do not count towards a player's statistical record.  

Here is some extract of the playing conditions governing IPL.  
1. Subject to weather conditions the Super Over will take place on the scheduled day of the match at a time to be determined by the IPL Match Referee. In normal circumstances it shall commence 10 minutes after the conclusion of the match.
2. The amount of extra time allocated to the Super Over is the greater of (a) the extra time allocated to the original match less the amount of extra time actually utilised and (b) the gap between the actual end of the match and the time the original match would have been scheduled to finish had the whole of the extra time provision been utilised. Should play be delayed prior to or during the Super Over, once the playing time lost exceeds the extra time allocated, the Super Over shall be abandoned.
4. In both innings of the Super Over, the fielding side shall choose from which end to bowl.
5. Only nominated players in the main match may participate in the Super Over.  
10. The loss of two wickets in the Super Over ends the team’s Super Over innings.

12. In the event of the teams having scored the same number of runs in the Super Over: 
a) If the original match was a tie under the D/L method, clause d. below immediately applies.
b) Otherwise, the team whose batsmen hit the most number of boundaries (fours and sixes) combined from its two innings in the main match and the Super Over shall be the winner.
c) If the total number of boundaries hit by both teams is equal, the team whose batsmen score the most number of boundaries (fours and sixes) in its innings in the main match (ignoring the Super Over) will be the winner.
d. If the number of boundaries scored by each team from the two innings in the main match and the Super Over are equal, the team which took the most number of wickets combined in both the main match and the Super Over shall be the winner.
e. If still equal, a count-back from the final ball of the Super Over shall be conducted. The team with the higher scoring delivery shall be the winner.
f. If still equal, the Super Over shall be declared a tie

Theoretically, there could be no super over, if the time limit is exceeded.  The scheduled finish is  11.10pm, and  60 minutes extra time too was  available…….. it was indeed a thriller, though a low-scoring one.


With regards – S. Sampathkumar

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