A tied ICC men's T20I or ODI is decided by a Super Over if conditions allow.
Published
Each team bats for up to six valid balls. Two wickets end an innings early, and the higher score wins regardless of wickets lost. If the scores are level again, the teams play another Super Over, subject to weather and the available time.
Quick ruling: under ICC Men's T20I Playing Condition 16.3.1 and Appendix F, effective July 2025, the team that batted second in the match bats first in the Super Over. Where DRS is in use, each side receives one unsuccessful review; Wides and No balls require replacement deliveries, and a tie leads to repeated Super Overs rather than a boundary count-back.
Effective rules
Which matches this explanation covers
The primary ruleset here is the ICC Men's Twenty20 International Playing Conditions, effective July 2025: clause 16.3.1 and Appendix F. The ICC Men's Standard ODI Playing Conditions, effective July 2025, use the same core procedure in clause 16.3.1 and Appendix G.
MCC Law 16 in the currently effective Laws of Cricket 2017 Code, 3rd Edition (2022) defines a Tie and allows an agreed match format to specify another result. It does not itself require a Super Over. Domestic leagues, women's internationals, age-grade cricket and local cups may adopt different tie-breakers or event outcomes, so their own current playing conditions remain controlling.
Trigger
The match must first have a Tie, not a No Result
ICC T20I clause 16.3.1 triggers the Super Over when the teams' scores are equal after both innings are completed. A DLS result can also be tied: if the chasing side finishes exactly on the DLS par score, or one run short of a revised target at the completed end of its innings, the tie procedure applies.
Rain does not create a Super Over merely because no winner is available. Under clauses 16.1 and 16.4, a T20I normally needs both sides to have the opportunity to bat for at least five overs; the ODI minimum is 20. The stated all-out and successful-short-chase exceptions still apply. If the match falls below the applicable threshold and no exception produces a result, it is a No Result rather than a Tie, so there is no Super Over.
Decision path
How to resolve a Super Over question
Name the competition and its effective playing conditions.
Confirm that the main match produced a Tie, including any DLS calculation, rather than a No Result.
Check that ground, weather, light and the allocated extra time allow a Super Over.
Apply the first-over order, player eligibility, ball choice, field restrictions and review allocation.
Compare runs after both one-over innings; wickets lost are not a separate tie-break.
If still level, apply the special order and eligibility rules for the next Super Over.
If the procedure cannot be completed, use the competition's stated tie, points or progression rule.
Set-up
The side that chased in the match bats first
In normal circumstances the first Super Over starts five minutes after the tied match. The ICC Match Referee sets the time. It uses the match pitch unless the umpires, Ground Authority and Match Referee determine otherwise, and the umpires remain at the ends where they finished the match.
Appendix F paragraph 11 reverses the main-match order: the team that batted second in the match bats first in the Super Over. This is prescribed, not decided by another toss. The fielding side chooses the end from which to bowl.
Length and result
Six valid balls, but two wickets can finish it early
Each team can face one over of six valid balls. The loss of two wickets ends that team's innings even if fewer than six valid balls have been delivered. Otherwise the innings ends after the sixth valid ball.
After both sides bat, the team with more runs wins, irrespective of wickets lost. The chasing side does not need to use all six valid balls: the ordinary result provisions end the contest as soon as it moves past the first side's score.
Deliveries
A Wide or No ball does not use up one of the six
Appendix F carries the relevant match playing conditions into the Super Over. ICC clause 17.3 says a Wide or No ball is not a valid ball, so its run penalty counts but another delivery is required. Any applicable free-hit provision also carries into the next delivery.
The Super Over uses the fielding restrictions that would apply to the last over of an uninterrupted match. That is a defined Appendix F rule; it is not necessarily the restriction that happened to be in force during the last over actually played in a rain-reduced innings.
Players and bowler
Teams choose from eligible nominated players
Only nominated players in the match, including an approved Concussion Replacement, may participate. The batting team may choose eligible batters; the players who ended the main innings do not have to continue. Any Penalty time still being served carries into the Super Over and can affect eligibility to bat or bowl.
One selected bowler would ordinarily complete the over. There is a narrow exception because the rest of the playing conditions still apply: under clause 17.8, if that bowler becomes incapacitated or is suspended during the over, another eligible bowler completes it from the same end.
Ball and reviews
No new ball, and one unsuccessful review per innings
The fielding captain or nominee chooses a ball from the umpires' box of spares, which includes match-used balls but no new balls. The team fielding second may use that same ball or select another from the box. Normal ball-replacement rules apply if it later needs changing.
Where DRS is in use, each team receives one unsuccessful Player Review in each innings of each Super Over, regardless of how many unsuccessful reviews it used in the match. A successful review, or one retained under the DRS protocol, does not consume that allowance.
Tied Super Over
The next Super Over changes order and eligibility
Under Appendix F paragraphs 17–24, another Super Over normally starts five minutes after the tie. The team that batted second in the previous Super Over bats first in the next one. Each fielding side bowls from the opposite end and reuses the ball it selected for its previous Super Over.
A batter dismissed in any earlier Super Over cannot bat in a later one. A bowler who bowled in the immediately previous Super Over cannot bowl the next, although the wording does not bar that bowler from returning after sitting one out. All other initial-Super-Over procedures apply again.
Weather and cut-off
An unfinished procedure leaves the match tied
Appendix F allocates extra time for delays from the start of the first Super Over. The allowance is the greater of 20 minutes or the gap between the tied match's actual finish and the finish time it would have had if all original extra time had been used.
If lost playing time exceeds that allowance, the Super Over procedure is abandoned and the match is declared tied. Where a known constraint such as a floodlight switch-off prevents unlimited attempts, the Match Referee may cap the possible number of Super Overs, but must tell both captains before the first one begins. A tournament can separately specify points, reserve-day treatment or progression after that tied result.
Competition control
The ICC baseline is not universal cricket law
The July 2025 men's T20I and ODI appendices match on the mechanics explained here, and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 playing conditions reproduced the same Super Over procedure. Event-specific reserve-day and advancement provisions can still change what happens around it.
The ICC T20I addendum for “Green” status Members also replaces references to the ICC Match Referee in Appendix F with the umpires. That is a current administrative variation. For a domestic or recreational match, do not import ICC timings, DRS or repeated-over rules unless that competition has adopted them.
Historical trap
Boundary count-back is not the current ICC method
The 2019 Men's Cricket World Cup final used boundary count after the match and Super Over were both tied. The ICC announced a changed approach on 14 October 2019, and the current July 2025 appendices now require another Super Over instead.
Main-innings boundaries, Super Over boundaries and wickets remaining do not break a tie under the current ruleset used on this page. If no further Super Over can be completed, the match is tied; the event regulations then determine any points or progression consequence.
Worked case 1
The chase passes the score after four valid balls
Situation: under the July 2025 ICC men's T20I rules, Team Blue bats first in the Super Over and makes 11/1. Team Gold reaches 12/0 from four valid balls.
Ruling: Gold wins immediately. It has scored more runs, so it does not receive two unnecessary deliveries. Its additional wicket in hand is not the reason for the win.
Worked case 2
A Wide comes after five valid balls
Situation: Team Blue has 8 runs after five valid balls. The next delivery is called Wide and no other runs are completed.
Ruling: Blue moves to 9, but the innings is not complete. The Wide is not a valid ball under ICC clause 17.3, so the bowler must deliver another ball unless a second wicket or the match result ends the innings first.
Worked case 3
The second wicket falls before six balls
Situation: Team Gold loses its second wicket on the fourth valid ball with the score 9. Two other nominated batters remain available.
Ruling: Gold's innings ends at 9. Appendix F paragraph 2 ends the innings on the loss of two wickets; the depth of the remaining batting line-up does not create another chance.
Worked case 4
A rain-shortened T20I finishes on par
Situation: the chase is terminated after six overs and the batting side is exactly level with the DLS par score.
Ruling: this is a Tie under ICC T20I clause 16.4.2, not a No Result, because the five-over minimum has been met. A Super Over follows if conditions and time permit. Had play ended after four overs with no result exception, the outcome would ordinarily be No Result and no Super Over.
Common mistakes
Five shortcuts that give the wrong ruling
“Every tied cricket match gets a Super Over”: MCC Law 16 does not say that; the competition playing conditions must provide the tie-break.
“One over means exactly six deliveries”: it means six valid balls, so Wides and No balls can make the over longer.
“One wicket ends it”: the ICC threshold is two wickets.
“Fewer wickets wins a tied Super Over”: runs decide it; another Super Over follows if runs are equal.
“The same star batter can return each time”: not after that batter has been dismissed in an earlier Super Over.
Source note: checked on 26 August 2026 against the ICC's current playing-conditions index and the documents above. This page uses the ICC men's international baseline; tournament, Member and domestic regulations may supplement or replace it.
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