New Delhi, April 17 One would have expected for Nitish Rana to be one of Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) batting choices for the first Super Over of IPL 2025 against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday night.
But to everyone’s surprise, despite making a fluent 51 off 28 balls, Rana wasn’t sent in, as RR preferred Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag and then Yashasvi Jaiswal in the one-over decider. It was a move which didn’t pay off as RR made only 11 runs off five balls, including run-outs on last two balls.
At the conclusion of the dramatic game, Rana said all the calls related to on-field decision making are at the hands of the team management. “This is never the decision of one person. It's always the management, and the support staff, as they can discuss and take a decision on these things. I feel that if this result was in our favour, then the question would have been different. So, this game of cricket is a result-oriented game.
"Management is the one who decides. There are two senior players and the captain. I think, that decision was right. If Hetmyer had hit two sixes, you wouldn't have asked the same question.
"Hetmyer is our finisher. Everyone knows this, and he has delivered in the past. There are a lot of things that we could have squeezed a little more, and the tied game from that one run shouldn't have happened. But this is the result," said Rana in the post-match press conference.
If the baffling batting choices weren’t enough, then the move to select Sandeep Sharma as their preferred bowler in the Super Over ahead of Jofra Archer, someone who could have hurried Rahul and Stubbs with his express pace, further raised eyebrows on RR’s decision making.
Sandeep, who had bowled an 11-ball 19-run final over in DC’s innings, was too predictable with his slower balls and that resulted in KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs winning the Super Over for the hosts’. Rana, though, felt RR didn’t reach their preferred batting target in the one-over eliminator.
“If Sandy had bowled that over, and he’s someone who’s bowled like that previously. I guess, in this situation, Sandy was most likely the best bowler we had. But I feel that we were a big shot less. We were targeting 15 runs in the Super Over, because we knew that if we scored 15 runs, then there's a chance (to win).
“When the team is chasing in the Super Over, there's always a pressure of one wicket (falling). But Rahul smartly scored a four over the point. I guess, according to me, that decision (to hand Sandeep the ball) was right. If the result wasn't in our favour, then there could be a lot of questions. But we stuck to what we thought.”
Quizzed about RR’s Super Over choices, DC skipper Axar Patel said he was concerned with things working well for them in the Super Over. “I was not surprised about Nitish Rana. I thought that Jaiswal will come and with Hetmyer not cleanly striking at the end, so I thought that Jaiswal and (later) Riyan could come. But, whoever came, it was good for us and I don’t mind.”
DC, now firmly on top of points table, will travel to Ahmedabad to face Gujarat Titans (GT) at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday afternoon, while RR, currently at eighth place will host Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on the same day in an evening clash.
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