Punjab Kings needed four runs from six balls with eight wickets in hand against Rajasthan Royals on September 21, 2021, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. They lost by two runs. In the 1,169-match history of the IPL through 2025, no team has ever failed from a more dominant last-over position in a run chase.
The 20th over of that match — bowled by a 21-year-old seamer named Kartik Tyagi — remains the single most devastating six-ball sequence by a fast bowler in IPL history. Dot, single, caught behind, dot, caught behind, dot. One run conceded. Two wickets taken. Both catches pouched by captain Sanju Samson behind the stumps. A match that was over suddenly was not.
The Setup: RR's 185 All Out and Arshdeep's Five-Wicket Haul
Rajasthan Royals batted first on a Dubai surface that offered consistent carry for the seamers. Yashasvi Jaiswal top-scored with 49, Mahipal Lomror contributed 43, and Evin Lewis added 36 at the top. But the RR innings collapsed from a strong position — all ten wickets falling inside 20 overs, the tail blown away by a 22-year-old left-arm seamer from Punjab.
Arshdeep Singh returned figures of 4-0-33-5 in what was one of the outstanding fast-bowling performances of IPL 2021. At the time, Arshdeep was a relatively unknown domestic cricketer. His five-wicket haul — only the second of that IPL season — was the kind of performance that should have won any match.
RR First Innings: 185 All Out (20 overs)
| Batter | Runs | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 49 | Top-order anchor |
| Mahipal Lomror | 43 | Middle-order aggression |
| Evin Lewis | 36 | Powerplay hitter |
| Liam Livingstone | 25 | Finishing cameo |
| Chetan Sakariya | 7 | Tail resistance |
PBKS Bowling Figures
| Bowler | Figures | Economy |
|---|---|---|
| Mohammed Shami | 4-0-21-3 | 5.25 |
| Arshdeep Singh | 4-0-33-5 | 8.25 |
| Harpreet Brar | 3-0-17-1 | 5.67 |
| Ishan Porel | 4-0-42-1 | 10.50 |
| Deepak Hooda | 2-0-37-0 | 18.50 |
Shami and Arshdeep combined for 8 wickets conceding just 54 runs in 8 overs. The target of 186 looked more than gettable.
The Chase: A Textbook Masterclass for 19 Overs
Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul and opener Mayank Agarwal produced one of the most commanding opening partnerships of the season. They put on 120 runs without losing a wicket in the first 11 overs.
Rahul was measured — 49 from his stay at the crease, rotating strike, picking boundaries off loose deliveries. Agarwal was the aggressor, smashing 67 off 43 balls, dominating the middle overs. Their partnership dismantled every bowler Sanju Samson turned to.
By the end of the 10th over, PBKS were 106 for no loss. The required rate had dropped below run-a-ball. By any metric — win probability models, historical data, basic arithmetic — the match was over.
PBKS Chase Progression
| Over | Score | Wickets | Required | Run Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 49/0 | 0 | 137 off 84 | 8.17 |
| 10 | 106/0 | 0 | 80 off 60 | 10.60 |
| 12 | 120/1 | 1 | 66 off 48 | 10.00 |
| 15 | 148/2 | 2 | 38 off 30 | 9.87 |
| 17 | 168/2 | 2 | 18 off 18 | 9.88 |
| 19 | 182/2 | 2 | 4 off 6 | 9.58 |
| 20 | 183/4 | 4 | LOST | — |
The wickets of Rahul and Agarwal in overs 12 and 13 were minor blips. Nicholas Pooran (32) and Aiden Markram (26 not out) had steadied the ship without any trouble. By the start of the final over, they were 182/2 — needing a boundary, or four singles, or any combination from six deliveries. Eight batsmen still in the pavilion waiting to pad up.
The Last Over: Six Balls That Defied Mathematics
Sanju Samson tossed the ball to Kartik Tyagi. Not Chris Morris, the world's most expensive IPL buy at ₹16.25 crore that year, who had gone for 47 in his four overs. Not Mustafizur Rahman, the Bangladesh left-arm seamer who had been economical but wicketless. Not Rahul Tewatia, who had already taken a wicket. Samson chose the youngest member of his attack.
Tyagi had been Rajasthan's quiet performer all evening — 3 overs for 28 runs and no wickets at that point. His overall figures in the match were already respectable. But what he did next was beyond respectable. It was historic.
Ball-by-Ball: The Final Over
Ball 1 — Markram. DOT.
Tyagi ran in hard, hit the deck outside off stump. Markram reached for it, could not connect. The Dubai crowd murmured. Still 4 needed off 5.
Ball 2 — Markram. ONE RUN.
A push through the off side for a single. Markram took strike for the second ball and handed it over. Score: 183/2. Required: 3 off 4 balls. Punjab still overwhelmingly in control. Pooran — the big-hitting West Indian — was now on strike.
Ball 3 — Pooran. WICKET. Caught Samson.
Tyagi bowled full and fast, angling across the left-hander. Pooran fished at it. The thinnest of edges. Samson moved to his left and completed the catch. Pooran was gone for 32. The equation shifted: 3 off 3, and a new batsman walking in.
Ball 4 — Hooda. DOT.
Deepak Hooda faced his first ball in a match he had barely participated in (his two overs with the ball went for 37). Tyagi hit the same length, same line — full, outside off, seaming away. Hooda defended and missed. Dot ball. Required: 3 off 2.
Ball 5 — Hooda. WICKET. Caught Samson.
Tyagi repeated the delivery. Full, angling across, demanding a shot. Hooda reached for it, edged it, and Samson — for the second time in three balls — took the catch. Tyagi wheeled away in celebration. Required: 3 off 1 ball. A new batsman. Fabian Allen, the West Indian all-rounder, walked out needing a boundary to tie or three runs to win off a single delivery against a man who had just taken two wickets in three balls.
Ball 6 — Allen. DOT.
Tyagi ran in one final time. Full, fast, outside off stump. Allen swung across the line. Missed. The ball thudded into Samson's gloves. Arms went up. The Rajasthan Royals dugout erupted. The most improbable two-run victory in IPL history was complete.
Kartik Tyagi's Final Figures
| Spell | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full match | 4.0 | 0 | 29 | 2 | 7.25 |
| Last over only | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1.00 |
The Anatomy of Genius: Why Tyagi's Over Worked
Three factors made this over extraordinary.
Line and length. Every ball was pitched full on or outside off stump. In T20 cricket's death overs, the default mode is slower balls, yorkers, and bouncers — variation to confuse. Tyagi did none of that. He bowled the same delivery six times: hard length, angling across, demanding that the batsman play at it. The simplicity was the weapon.
Pace. Tyagi was consistently hitting 140 km/h in the final over. Against set batsmen who had been facing spin and medium pace in the middle overs, the transition to genuine pace at the death is disorienting. Markram had been timing his shots beautifully all evening. Against Tyagi's extra yard of speed, his timing deserted him.
The keeper. Sanju Samson's contribution was as significant as Tyagi's. Both catches were taken moving laterally, with soft hands, off thin edges generated by deliveries that were not doing anything dramatic off the pitch but were inducing the faintest of deflections. Elite glovework made elite bowling count.
Where This Stands in IPL History
The database of last-over chases in the IPL reveals how rare this result was. Across all IPL matches through 2025, teams chasing and needing 4 or fewer from the final over with 6 or more wickets in hand have won more than 95% of the time. Punjab's failure was not merely unusual — it was statistically anomalous.
Closest Last-Over Defensive Efforts in IPL History
| Match | Year | Required | Result | Key Bowler |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RR vs PBKS, Dubai | 2021 | 4 off 6 (8 wkts in hand) | Lost by 2 | Kartik Tyagi |
| MI vs RPS, Hyderabad (Final) | 2017 | 11 off 6 | Won by 1 | Mitchell Johnson |
| MI vs CSK, Hyderabad (Final) | 2019 | 9 off 6 | Won by 1 | Lasith Malinga |
| CSK vs DD, Chennai | 2015 | 6 off 6 | Won by 1 | Ashish Nehra |
| KKR vs PBKS, Kolkata | 2024 | Low target | Won by 1 | Andre Russell |
What separates Tyagi's over from the other entries on this list is the starting position. Malinga's final over in the 2019 final was remarkable, but CSK still needed 9 — a demanding equation. Mitchell Johnson defended 11 in the 2017 final. Tyagi's opponents needed just four with the entire batting order available. The difficulty was not in the arithmetic but in the psychology.
Legacy: What September 21, 2021 Meant
For Kartik Tyagi, the over should have been a career-defining moment — the kind of passage that launches a decade-long international career. Instead, injuries and inconsistent selection meant Tyagi drifted through the IPL system without recapturing that lightning. His IPL career remained modest in volume. But one over of six balls in Dubai ensured his name would be etched permanently in the sport's memory.
For Arshdeep Singh, the match offered a different lesson. His 5/33 was rendered irrelevant by the batting collapse in the final over of the chase. Arshdeep went on to become India's first-choice T20I death bowler — a trajectory that this specific match, and this specific heartbreak, may have accelerated. Learning to lose from unlosable positions teaches a fast bowler more about the last over than any coaching manual.
For the IPL itself, the match is the clearest proof that T20 cricket is never over. CricMind's Oracle prediction engine assigns a win probability of approximately 98% to any team needing 4 off 6 with 8 wickets in hand. The model is correct — 98% of the time. It is the 2% that makes the format addictive.
For Sanju Samson, it validated the captaincy decision that many had questioned. Handing the final over to a 21-year-old over a ₹16.25 crore all-rounder required conviction. Samson backed his instinct, and then personally held two catches that made the instinct look like genius.
Three Takeaways
- Genuine pace at the death is undervalued. Every franchise invests in slower-ball specialists and yorker bowlers for the 20th over. Tyagi's over proved that raw speed on a good length — the simplest weapon in fast bowling — can be the most effective when batsmen expect variation.
- New batsmen are vulnerable regardless of wickets in hand. Pooran's dismissal brought Hooda to the crease cold. Hooda's dismissal brought Allen in even colder. The "8 wickets in hand" statistic was misleading because only two of those batsmen had any rhythm. Fresh eyes against 140 km/h pace in a high-pressure last over is a fundamentally different challenge than facing the same ball in the 10th over.
- Wicketkeeping wins matches invisibly. Samson's two catches were not spectacular in isolation — they were regulation edges. But regulation edges are only regulation if the keeper is in the right position, balanced, and watching the ball. In the chaos of a last-over heist, keeping composure behind the stumps is an act of athleticism that statistics rarely capture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the final score in the RR vs PBKS match on September 21, 2021?
Rajasthan Royals scored 185 all out in 20 overs. Punjab Kings, chasing 186 to win, finished at 183/4 in 20 overs. RR won by 2 runs. Kartik Tyagi was awarded Player of the Match for his decisive last over.
How many wickets did Arshdeep Singh take in this match?
Arshdeep Singh took 5 wickets for 33 runs in 4 overs during the RR first innings. Despite this exceptional bowling performance, Punjab Kings lost the match due to the batting collapse in the final over of the chase.
What were Kartik Tyagi's bowling figures in the last over?
Tyagi conceded just 1 run and took 2 wickets in the 20th over. His six-ball sequence was: dot, 1 run, caught (Pooran), dot, caught (Hooda), dot. Both catches were taken by wicketkeeper Sanju Samson. His full match figures were 4-0-29-2.
Who were the top scorers for Punjab Kings in the chase?
Mayank Agarwal top-scored with 67, followed by KL Rahul with 49. Nicholas Pooran added 32 and Aiden Markram contributed 26 not out. PBKS were 182/2 after 19 overs before the dramatic final over.
Has any IPL team ever lost needing fewer than 4 runs from the last over with so many wickets in hand?
No. Through the 2025 season, the RR vs PBKS match of September 21, 2021 remains the most dominant batting position from which a team has lost in the final over of an IPL chase. Needing 4 off 6 with 8 wickets in hand is statistically a near-certainty — the failure rate in comparable situations across IPL history is below 5%.
Where was this match played and why?
The match was played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium as part of the second phase of IPL 2021. The tournament had been suspended in May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India and resumed in the UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah) in September-October 2021.
What happened to Kartik Tyagi's career after this match?
Tyagi's last-over heroics remain the defining moment of his career. Injuries limited his subsequent IPL appearances, and he did not establish himself as a regular starter for any franchise in later seasons. However, the performance demonstrated the match-winning potential of express pace at the death — a quality that remains rare and highly valued in T20 cricket.