In a nail-biting IPL 2025 showdown at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi Capitals edged past Rajasthan Royals in a Super Over thriller that had fans on the edge of their seats. With RR setting a target of 11 in the Super Over, DC’s KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs chased it down with two balls to spare. However, what sparked more debate than the result was RR’s puzzling decision to send Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag to bat in the Super Over, leaving out the in-form duo of Nitish Rana and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Nitish Rana, who anchored RR’s innings with a brilliant 51 off just 28 deliveries, addressed the media after the match to shed light on the team’s strategy. Despite being one of the standout performers, Rana was not selected among the top three Super Over batters. He candidly spoke about the call, acknowledging the management’s decision but also hinting that the team might revisit their choices in similar situations going forward.

“The management takes the call, not one person. The captain is there along with two other senior players and coaches. If Shimron Hetmyer had hit two sixes, then you wouldn’t be asking this question. I will give the same answer. I don’t have any other answer. Whatever decision we took was right. Hetmyer is our finisher; everyone knows that,” Rana said.

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Rana defends the team’s tactical choices despite fan criticism

Rana also defended the move to give the Super Over ball to Sandeep Sharma, rather than the more seasoned Jofra Archer, repeating that cricket is an outcome-based game where hindsight is commonly behind criticism. "One individual never makes such decisions. Management and support staff are present to talk about these kinds of things. If the choice was in our advantage, then your query would have been different," he mentioned.

Rajasthan Royals had agonizingly nearly won, requiring 9 runs for the last over before Starc's brilliance subjected the match to a Super Over. Poor judgment cost run-outs of Parag and Jaiswal in the Super Over, limiting RR to a sub-par 11. That was not enough as Delhi kept their nerve to win two vital points and regain the top spot with 10 points from six matches.