Follow UsNitish Rana, Rajasthan Royals (RR)’s highest run-getter in a losing cause against Delhi Capitals (DC), in what turned out to be a humdinger of a contest in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match 32, ending in a Super Over finish at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on April 16 (Wednesday), gave all the credit to the opposition bowler Mitchell Starc for stealing the show.
At the time when Starc was reintroduced into the attack, RR needed 31 off the last three with Rana batting brilliantly at 50 off just 26 balls. However, the Australian executed brilliant yorkers and changed the course of the game. He even got Nitish out.
"I think we must give credit to Starc. After a long time, I saw someone bowl like this in the death overs, especially in the IPL," Rana said in the post-match press conference.
Answering why it was the best death bowling spell in a long time, Rana said, “Because of the use of saliva allowed, we are suddenly seeing reverse swing getting back into the game. The batters haven’t played against it in the nets in the last two-three years. Reverse swing was almost out of the game, be it red-ball or white-ball cricket.”
“Suddenly, someone comes at the speed of 140-145 kmph and executes 11 out of 12 yorkers with reverse swing, then the credit must go to Starc,” added the 31-year-old.
Including the Super Over, Starc, in his last three overs, went for just 27 runs and picked the wicket of Rana, which was far better than what he did at the start of the innings, getting hit for 20 runs without any wickets.
Rana also shed light on the debatable calls taken by RR whereby they sent Shimron Hetmyer to bat in the super over, even though he had failed to get them to win in the final over earlier in the game. In the bowling too, they trusted Sandeep Sharma to defend 11 runs while having Jofra Archer in the set-up, who has already delivered under pressure in the past.
"One person never takes such calls. Management and support staff are there to discuss such things. If the decision was in our favour, then your question would have been different. Cricket is a result-oriented sport,” said Rana.