The Knight Riders captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and he elected to bowl first. The Newlands pitch had offered assistance to the seamers and spinners in an equal proportion during the earlier games. Kolkata made four changes in their line-up. Sanjay Bangar, Mendis, Agarkar and Anureet Singh were the ones included in the final eleven. Rajasthan also had three changes in their team. They brought in Rob Quiney in place of Tyron Henderson while Swapnil Asnodkar made way for Abhishek Raut. The 25 year old Paul Valthaty was also included in the team.
Jaipur were off to a sloppy start when Valthaty and Rob Quiney got out in quick succession. While Valthaty got out to the young Anureet Singh, Ishant Sharma brought about the dismissal of Quiney after being hit for a six off his previous delivery. Jaipur were struggling at 14/2.
Yusuf Pathan walked to the crease and looked all set to take the attack to the Knight Riders. He went about his batting in his regular swashbuckling fashion.
A partnership of 56 runs was brought to an end when Graeme Smith was dismissed by the magical Ajantha Mendis after a referral to the third umpire. Mendis struck again in the same over to dismiss Pathan on 42. After 10 overs, Rajasthan Royals once again were in a precarious position at 78/4.
Ravindu Jadeja and Dimitri Mascarenhas started the rescue work. Together they started building on a partnership hoping to take Rajasthan to a defendable score. With four overs remaining, Ravindu Jadeja tried to accelerate the scoring. However he skied an Ishant Sharma delivery and was caught by Yashpal Singh. Mascarenhas on the other hand, played some impressive strokes until he got out after being dismissed by Anureet Singh. An exciting last over saw Rajasthan reach a score 150 thanks to two sixers and a four by Abhishek Raut.
Gayle started Kolkata's chase with superb hits blazing off his bat. Rajasthan struck back by picking up the Knight Riders captain Brendon McCullum. The captain mis-hit a Mascarenhas delivery and was brilliantly caught by Kamran Khan.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla came in at number three and immediately got a lucky break when the Rajasthan keeper Rawat dropped a skier off Pathan's bowling. An interesting contest was in store when Shane Warne came in to bowl. Gayle and Shukla started off by approached his bowling in a cautious manner. However, the spin wizard Shane Warne tempted Gayle to go over the top, only to be caught by Jadeja.
Rajasthan's latest find, Kamran Khan picked up his first wicket when Shukla was out to a superb catch by Rawat, behind the stumps. Kolkata went into strategy break at 67/3 requiring 84 runs off 10 overs.
Munaf Patel struck immediately after the break, sending back Brad Hodge, after an attempted drive found the keeper's hands. Sanjay Bangar joined the former India captain Ganguly and together, they put on 23 runs. Just when things were looking good for Kolkata, Bangar gave Kamran Khan his second wicket when he drove to Smith at backward point.
The 'Prince of Kolkata' took the fight back to Rajasthan. He started off by hitting consecutive sixers off Munaf Patel; one of which came from a free hit. Yashpal Singh gave him good support from the other end as Kolkata inched closer to the target set by Rajasthan. Rajasthan got their next wicket when Yashpal Singh got out to Shane Warne in the penultimate over. At this stage Kolkata required 7 runs of 6 balls with 4 wickets remaining.
Kamran Khan was asked to bowl the last over and he started off with a wide. Two singles, a dot ball and two leg-byes came of the first three balls. Ganguly was out for 46 off the fifth ball, caught behind by Rawat. Leading up to an nail-biting finish, two runs were required off the last ball. Ishant Sharma was on strike and could only manage a single after an attempted second run led to his run-out. The match ended in a tie resulting in the 'Super Over' being employed for the first time ever in the IPL.
Kolkata were the first to bat during the 'Super over'. The exciting left-armer Kamran Khan was given the ball by his captain while Gayle and McCullum came for batting. The first two balls resulted in two singles. Kamran bowled a wide off the third ball. The next three deliveries saw Gayle take toll of Kamran Khan by hitting him for three consecutive fours. However, he got out on the last ball after a great catch by Rob Quiney. Kolkata managed 15 runs.
It was Ajantha Mendis who came to bowl the 'Super Over' for Kolkata. Yusuf Pathan took strike accompanied by Ravindu Jadeja at the other end. Pathan started off by hitting Mendis for a six off his first ball. Yusuf skied the second delivery over the bowler's head but the ball fell just in between the fielders. The third ball saw Pathan blast Mendis for a six over mid-wicket. Rajasthan required just 2 runs off 3 balls. Yusuf finished it off with a boundary and Rajasthan clinched the nail-bitting game in grand style.
Interesting facts:
Kamran Khan picket up his maiden IPL wicket when he dismissed Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
Ganguly hit the first six of a free hit in the IPL 2009 after Munaf Patel bowled a no-ball.
The Rajasthan-Kolkata match was the first ever tied match in the IPL.
'Super Over' was employed for the first time ever in the IPL after the Rajasthan-Kolkata match ended in a tie.
Man of the match:
Yusuf Pathan was declared Man of the Match for his super batting display during Rajasthan Royal innings and in Super Over bowled by A.Mendis.
Match Summary (Rajasthan Royals won via Super Over)
Rajasthan Royals – 150/6 in 20 Overs
Y.Pathan- 42 D.Mascarenhas –27
A.Mendis – 4-0-19-2 A.Singh– 4-0-35-2
Kolkata Knight Riders – 150/8 in 20 Overs
S.Ganguly- 46 C.Gayle –41
K.Khan– 4-0-18-3 S.Warne– 4-0-25-2
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