West Indies spinner Sunil Narine - a familiar face in the Indian Premier League (IPL) - made history by delivering the first ever maiden super over in T20 history in the Caribbean Premier League on Thursday.
Narine, who plays for Guyana Amazon Warriors, had bowled the most economical spell in the T20 ever in their last match (4-1-3-0). And the 26-year-old continued his magical form to sink Red Steel on Thursday, delivering a wicket-maiden in the super over.
The Steel have themselves to blame for as the game should not have gone to the super over in the first place. Chasing 119 to win, the Warriors' tailenders needed to score 11 runs in the final over bowled by Dwayne Bravo. But wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran and fielder Fidel Edwards crumbled under pressure and gave away easy runs to the hosts on crucial moments.
Bravo conceded only three runs from the first three deliveries but a misfield by Edwards awarded four runs to Guyana, a mishit on the fourth ball went for two and then Pooran dropped a sitter on the last ball and allowed the batsmen to pinch a couple of runs and tie the scores.
The Warriors batted first in the super over and set a target of 12 for the Steel. But Narine delivered the over of his life and made the target a mountain for the visitors.
Pooran, who opened the batting in the super over for the Steel, was completely outfoxed by the Windies' mystery spinner as he failed to connect the bat on the first four deliveries. He finally connected one but it went straight to Martin Guptill at long on.
The Steel needed 12 to win on the final ball and even Ross Taylor, who tried to slog Narine on the last ball, missed the ball completely.
Here is what happened in the magical super over bowled by Narine:
Earlier, opener Evin Lewis (39) and Pooran helped the touring party to reach 118 in 20 overs on the Providence Stadium's square-turner. The spinners dominated the proceedings from the start and never allowed the batsmen to score freely.
Six of Steel's batsmen failed to touch the double digit mark, with Pooran (37) and Kevin O'Brian (19) making a 44-run partnership for the seventh wicket to help the team cross the 100-run mark.
In reply, Guyana's batsmen were also tied down by spinner Samuel Badree (three for 18) and medium-pacer Kevon Cooper (two for 19). They almost won the game until the last over blunder from Pooran and Edwards.
