Super Overs and Tie-Breakers: How Tied Cricket Matches Are Decided

By the Live Cricket Zone editorial team · Last reviewed 17 September 2026

A tie in cricket is rare: two sides finishing an entire limited-overs match on exactly the same score. When it happens in a match that needs a winner, the Super Over decides it. This guide explains how the Super Over is played, what has changed since the 2019 World Cup final, and how ties in the standings, rather than in a match, are resolved.

When a tie is a tie

In a Test match a tie is a full result in its own right, and it has happened only twice in Test history, in 1960 and 1986. In group-stage limited-overs matches many competitions simply record a tie and share the points, while others, including the IPL and the ICC World Cups, play a Super Over in every match. Knockout matches always need a winner. The competition's playing conditions say which applies, and the scorecard result line will read either "Match tied" or name the Super Over winner.

How a Super Over is played

  1. The side that batted second in the match bats first in the Super Over.
  2. Each side nominates three batters and one bowler. The bowler may be anyone from the team, regardless of how many overs they bowled in the match.
  3. Each side faces one over of six legal deliveries. The innings ends early if the batting side loses two wickets.
  4. The fielding restrictions of the final phase of the match apply, so in a T20 five fielders may be outside the circle.
  5. The side with more runs in the Super Over wins. Wickets lost in the Super Over do not matter unless both sides are bowled out for the same score.

Runs scored in a Super Over count towards the match result but not towards any player's career statistics; a six in a Super Over is not added to a batter's tally for the tournament.

If the Super Over is tied

Under ICC playing conditions since October 2019, a tied Super Over is followed by another Super Over, and so on until one side scores more. In each subsequent Super Over the side that batted second in the previous one bats first, a batter dismissed in an earlier Super Over may not bat again, and a bowler who bowled an earlier Super Over may not bowl again. The first double Super Over in international cricket came in a New Zealand v India T20I in January 2020.

The boundary count, and why it was abolished

Before October 2019 a tied Super Over was settled by comparing the number of boundaries each side had hit in the match and Super Over combined. That rule decided the 2019 World Cup final at Lord's, where England and New Zealand tied both the match and the Super Over and England were awarded the trophy on boundaries. The rule was widely criticised for deciding a world final on a statistic unrelated to the result, and the ICC removed it weeks later in favour of repeated Super Overs.

Ties in DLS-affected matches

If a match is decided by the DLS method and the chasing side finishes exactly on the par score, the match is a tie. Most competitions do not then play a Super Over, because there may be no time or conditions to do so, and the tie stands with points shared; knockout matches have separate provisions such as a reserve day or a bowl-out-free tiebreak based on group position.

Ties in the standings

Sides level on points in a group or league are separated by a fixed sequence set out in the competition regulations. The usual order is: most wins, then [net run rate](/guides/net-run-rate-explained), then head-to-head result between the tied sides, and finally a draw of lots or original seeding. The IPL, for instance, uses points, then wins, then NRR. In the World Test Championship, where percentage of points won is the primary measure, sides level on percentage are separated by series wins and then by runs per wicket ratio. When a competition's knockout stage needs a winner from a washed-out match with no reserve day, the higher-placed side in the group usually advances, which is another reason group position matters.