Sanju Samson received the Player-of-the-Match award against Delhi Capitals (DC) for his 56-ball 115 not out, but should it have gone to Jamie Overton, who returned 4 for 18, running through the DC middle order? “Of course,” said Wasim Jaffer, calling Overton the “point of difference” – which Aaron Finch agreed with – in Chennai Super Kings‘ (CSK) 23-run win, their first in IPL 2026.

“According to me, it should have been Overton,” Jaffer said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “If he didn’t get the spell, CSK wouldn’t have won. Because he got very important wickets. And in four overs, just 18 runs, where the target was 210. I thought the point of difference was that.

“Although, if Sanju didn’t get the innings, [CSK] wouldn’t have scored so many runs [212 for 2]. So it was very difficult [to decide]. But in such a big game, where batting is easy, I think Overton should have been given [the match award].”

For the record, ESPNcricinfo’s MVP calculations had Samson at No. 1 with 150.93 impact points, and Overton, at No. 2, got 112.18 points.

Overton came on in the eighth over of DC’s chase, with the scoreboard reading 73 for 3 and David Miller and Sameer Rizvi in the middle. He removed Rizvi in that over, and came back in the 13th to send back Miller. He made it a wicket in each over when he sent back Auqib Nabi in the 16th and Tristan Stubbs in the 19th.

Much of his success was down to Overton mixing his pace up. Miller, for example, lost his stumps to one that moved in a bit to the left-hand batter, zooming in at 145kph. The hit-the-deck-hard variety earned him the wickets of Rizvi and Stubbs.

“He was bowling fast, up in the mid- to high-140s, Finch said of Overton on the same programme. “Thinking back to the Big Bash, where he played for Adelaide Strikers, he was consistently up in the high 140s as well. So, he’s a serious cricketer. For me, he should be the Player of the Match. On a batting-friendly wicket, here was the point of difference.

“He just strangled them through the middle when he had that opportunity. Big wickets at big times. I think he’s a seriously good cricketer. The skill set that he brings – bat, ball, field – another one of those players that you want in the game, in the contest, when it’s on the line.

“He likes the big moments. Every time he gets an opportunity around the world, whether it’s franchise [cricket] or for England, he gets the job done.”