Super Over Rules in Cricket: How a Tied Match Is Decided

Updated: 31 October 2026 · Author: Cricket Match Scorecard Editorial

When a limited-overs match finishes level, many competitions refuse to leave it tied. Instead, the teams play a one-over shootout called a Super Over, often the most tense few minutes of a season. Here is exactly how it works.

The basic format

• Each team bats for one over of six legal balls.
• Each team picks three batters and one bowler.
• The innings ends after two wickets, because with three batters there are then no partners left.
• The team with more runs wins.

Who bats first?

The team that batted second in the main match bats first in the Super Over. That side has just been through the tension of the chase, and it sets the target for the opposition to chase.

Who can take part?

Teams use players from their playing XI, and can choose them freely. So they will usually pick their best power hitters and their most reliable death bowler, regardless of how those players performed earlier. A batter who was dismissed in the main match can still bat, and a bowler who had used up their overs can still bowl.

What if the Super Over is tied?

This is where things have changed. In the 2019 men's World Cup final, England and New Zealand tied the match and the Super Over, and England won on the count of boundaries hit. The result was widely criticised, and the ICC dropped that tie-break.

Now, in competitions that use a Super Over to decide a match, the teams generally keep playing further Super Overs until one team wins. In a subsequent Super Over, a batter dismissed in the previous one cannot bat again, and the bowler from the previous one cannot bowl again.

That rule makes selection harder, because the third or fourth Super Over could leave a team relying on its second-choice hitters. Competitions can impose time limits, and if a match cannot be finished, the playing conditions say what happens next.

A real example: two Super Overs in Paarl

In the CSA T20 Challenge match between Rocks (Boland) and Titans in October 2026, both sides made 137 in 20 overs. Rocks batted first in the Super Over, as they had chased in the main match, and made 9/1. Titans also made 9/1, forcing a second Super Over, which Rocks won.

Tactics in a single over

For the team batting first

Its aim is to reach a score that forces the opposition into risks, usually around 15 or more. Every ball must count, but losing two wickets ends the over, so batters cannot swing recklessly from the first delivery.

For the bowler

Yorkers and wide slower balls are the most common plans. A no-ball or wide is costly, since it gives the batting side a run and a free extra delivery. Under most playing conditions, a free hit also follows a no-ball.

For the chasing side

Its great advantage is that it knows the target. A batter needing 10 can play quite differently from one needing 20.

Do all matches use a Super Over?

No. Test matches never use one, because a tie is an extremely rare outcome and draws are normal. Many bilateral ODIs are simply allowed to finish as a tie. Super Overs are common in T20 cricket and in knockout matches, where there must be a winner. In the IPL, the winner of a tied match gets the full 2 points, as our IPL points table guide explains.

How it appears on a scorecard

The Super Over usually appears as a separate short innings. Those runs do not count toward batters' career or match totals in the usual records, and the main-match result line will read "Match tied" followed by the Super Over winner.

For the general differences between formats, read Test vs ODI vs T20.