It took two Super Over deciders, in addition to the 40 overs that were played already, to decide who was the ‘King’ of Sunday evening. Quite aptly, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) kept their nerve to edge out Mumbai Indians (MI) in an edge-of-the-seat IPL thriller in Dubai.
KXIP managed to stop MI from chasing down a target of six in the first Super Over and in the second Super Over Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal scored the required 12 runs to take them to a win at the Dubai International Stadium.
The big star for Punjab in the 2 Super Overs definitely was Mohammed Shami who managed to defend the five runs Punjab’s batters had scored in the first Super Over. The skipper, KL Rahul, was all praise for his India team-mate after the match.
“You can never prepare for Super Overs. No team does. So you have to trust your bowler's gut. You trust your bowler, and let them believe their instinct and gut. He (Shami) was very clear he wanted to go six yorkers. He has been phenomenal, and keeps getting better every game. It is important that senior players win the games for the team," said Rahul.
While Punjab played the first-ever double Super Over of the IPL’s history, the team has already been part of another Super Over game earlier in the tournament, a match that they eventually lost to Delhi on 20 September.
"It is not the first time. But we don't want to make a habit out of it. We will take the two points in the end. It doesn't always happen the way you plan so you don't really know how to stay balanced. I was just hoping we get over the line because the boys have been working really really hard. In the games that we have lost, even then we have played well and just not been able to get over the line," said Rahul.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)