Punjab beat Mumbai in IPL’s first-ever second super over

Kings XI Punjab beat holders Mumbai Indians as the Indian Premier League witnessed a second super over for the first time after skipper KL Rahul’s heroics on Sunday.

Rahul smashed 77 off 51 deliveries as Punjab equalled Mumbai’s score of 176 in the second match of the day after the opening game also ended in a tie.

Kolkata Knight Riders edged out Sunrisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi with New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson making an impact in his first IPL outing this season.
Punjab and Mumbai remained level after the first super over with paceman Mohammed Shami keeping down Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai to five runs.

Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal then combined to get their team’s 12-tun target after Mumbai managed 11 for one in the second super over of the match and the third of the day.

“It was a dream come true to play the IPL and to have exciting games like this is amazing. This kind of a match will go down in history,” Agarwal, who hit the winning runs, said after the tense win.

“Having an opportunity to learn from the game’s greats is quite incredible. KL is a wonderful player and the kind of performance he’s put forth as a captain so consistently is incredible.”

The International Cricket Council changed the super over rules in limited-overs matches after England beat New Zealand on boundary count in the final of last year’s 50-over World Cup.

England was awarded the cup as they scored more boundaries during their innings despite New Zealand matching their score at the end of 50 overs and in the super over at Lord’s.

Punjab have improved to sixth in the eight-team table and are level with four teams on six points with three wins and six losses from nine matches.

Mumbai’s Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah returned figures of 3-24 and West Indies batsman Kieron Pollard smashed an unbeaten 34 off 12 deliveries.

‘Outstanding’ Ferguson

Earlier in game one, Ferguson returned figures of 3-15 in the Hyderabad innings and then claimed two wickets including Hyderabad skipper David Warner in the super over.

Warner became the fastest to 5,000 IPL runs in 135 innings as he hit an unbeaten 47 but Hyderabad could only equal Kolkata’s score of 163 and the match ended in a tie.

Ferguson then bowled a superb super over to send Warner back on the first ball and took another wicket to keep down Hyderabad to two, a score Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata surpassed in four balls.

“For Lockie to come in and perform in both phases was outstanding,” Morgan said.

“We’ve been sort of striving to get wins out of the last couple of games, it didn’t happen against Mumbai (Indians); today we were competitive.”

It was disappointment for Warner who came into bat at number four instead of his usual opening position and went quicker to 5,000 runs than Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli who reached the mark in 157 IPL innings.

The left-hand batsman became the first overseas player and fourth overall to join the 5,000-run IPL club. Kohli leads the batting chart with 5,759 runs in 186 matches.