🏏 Cricket, explained
Bat-and-ball team sport where two sides of eleven trade innings, scoring runs while the bowling side hunts ten wickets.
What am I watching?
Cricket is a contest between a batting side and a bowling side, played in turns called innings. Two batters are on the field at once, facing a bowler who delivers the ball in sets of six legal deliveries called overs. The batters score runs by hitting the ball and running between two sets of wooden stumps 22 yards apart, or by hitting the ball to the boundary. The bowling side, backed by nine fielders and a wicketkeeper, tries to dismiss the batters — 'take wickets' — and to stop runs. When ten of the eleven batters are out, or the allotted overs run out, the innings ends and the sides swap roles.
The rhythm of a match depends on the format. A T20 is a three-hour sprint where batters attack almost every ball; a one-day international unfolds over about eight hours with phases of consolidation and acceleration; a Test match runs up to five days and is as much about survival, patience and pressure as about scoring. Watch the scoreboard's two key numbers: runs scored and wickets lost, written like 165/4 (165 runs, 4 wickets down). In a chase, the equation is simply runs needed versus balls remaining versus wickets in hand.
Things to look for as a new viewer: the duel between bowler and batter (pace and bounce versus timing and shot selection), field placements that telegraph the bowling plan, the swing or spin of the ball, and momentum swings when a wicket falls. In India, evening IPL games are the easiest entry point — short, loud, and packed with the world's best players.
How scoring works
Runs are the currency of cricket. The basic unit is the run: after the batter hits (or even misses) the ball, the two batters may sprint and swap ends between the creases; each completed swap is one run. If the ball is hit along the ground and crosses the boundary rope, the batting side gets four runs automatically. If it clears the rope on the full — without bouncing — it is six runs. No running is needed for boundaries.
The fielding side can also gift runs through 'extras', which are added to the team total but not to any batter's score. A wide (ball out of the batter's reach) and a no-ball (an illegal delivery, most commonly overstepping the front line) each cost one run and must be bowled again. Byes are runs taken when the ball passes the batter without touching bat or body; leg byes are runs taken after the ball hits the batter's body. Umpires can also award five penalty runs for offences like the ball striking a fielder's discarded helmet or deliberate time-wasting.
A team's innings total is everything scored before ten wickets fall or the overs run out. In limited-overs cricket (ODI, T20, T10, The Hundred), the side batting second wins by scoring more than the first side's total within its allotted deliveries; the side batting first wins by defending it. Margins are quoted in runs (when the defending side wins) or wickets (when the chasing side wins). In Tests, each side bats twice and a team must both outscore the opponent across both innings and bowl them out to win — otherwise the match is a draw.
If a limited-overs match ends with scores level, most major competitions play a Super Over — a one-over-per-side shootout — to decide the winner. If rain shortens a limited-overs game, the DLS method (explained in the rules section) sets a fair revised target.
- 1 run for each time the two batters cross and reach the opposite crease.
- 4 runs if the ball reaches the boundary after touching the ground; 6 if it clears it on the full.
- Wides and no-balls cost 1 run each and the delivery is re-bowled.
- A no-ball in white-ball cricket also gives the batter a free hit — they cannot be bowled, caught, LBW or stumped off it.
- Byes and leg byes add to the team total but not to the batter's personal score.
- Umpires can award 5 penalty runs for specific offences.
- Scoreline 165/4 means 165 runs scored for the loss of 4 wickets.
- Tied white-ball knockout games are usually settled by a Super Over.
Formats
Test
ODI (One Day International)
T20
T10
The Hundred
The rules
The basics
Two teams of eleven players take turns to bat and bowl. The batting side always has exactly two batters on the field — the striker, who faces the bowling, and the non-striker at the other end. The bowling side has all eleven players out: one bowler, one wicketkeeper behind the stumps, and nine fielders. The bowler delivers the ball in overs of six legal deliveries, and a different bowler must bowl each successive over from alternating ends. The batting side's innings ends when ten batters are dismissed (the last batter cannot bat alone) or when the format's over limit is reached. The team with more runs at the end wins.
The playing area
Cricket is played on a large oval field with a rope marking the boundary. At the centre is the pitch: a hard, closely mown strip 22 yards (20.12 m) long with a set of three wooden stumps topped by two bails at each end. Lines called creases are painted at both ends — the popping crease, 4 feet in front of the stumps, is the batter's safe ground. A batter who is outside the crease when the stumps are broken can be run out or stumped. Boundary distances are not fixed and vary from ground to ground, which is one reason home conditions matter so much.
The 30-yard circle
In limited-overs cricket an inner circle is marked roughly 30 yards from the pitch. Fielding-restriction rules (powerplays) limit how many fielders may stand outside this circle at different stages of the innings, which shapes when batters attack.
The ball and the bat
Tests use a red ball (pink for day-night Tests); limited-overs cricket uses a white ball. The ball's condition changes as the match wears on — a new ball swings and bounces more, an old ball can reverse-swing or grip for spinners. Bats are wooden, with limits on width and edge thickness set by the Laws.
How the formats work
All formats share the same core laws; they differ in innings length, over limits and bowling workloads.
Test cricket
Up to five days, around 90 overs per day, with each side batting twice. A side leading by a large margin after first innings (200 runs in a five-day Test) may enforce the follow-on, making the opponent bat again immediately. A captain can also declare an innings closed at any point to push for a win. If the allotted time runs out before a result, the match is a draw — which is different from a tie, where completed matches finish with scores exactly level. Test cricket has no fielding restrictions and no limit on how many overs a bowler may bowl.
ODI cricket
50 overs per side, each bowler limited to 10 overs. Powerplay 1 (overs 1–10) allows only two fielders outside the 30-yard circle; powerplay 2 (overs 11–40) allows four; powerplay 3 (overs 41–50) allows five. These phases create the classic ODI shape: aggressive start, middle-overs consolidation, death-overs assault.
T20 cricket
20 overs per side, each bowler limited to 4 overs. The first six overs are the powerplay with only two fielders allowed outside the circle; after that a maximum of five may patrol the boundary. Matches take about three hours.
T10 and The Hundred
T10 halves the T20 again: 10 overs per side, roughly 90 minutes. The Hundred, played in England, gives each side 100 balls delivered in sets of five; a bowler may bowl five or ten balls consecutively and a maximum of 20 in the match. Both formats keep standard cricket scoring and dismissals.
Ways of getting out
There are ten ways a batter can be dismissed. The first five below account for the overwhelming majority of dismissals; the rest are rare enough that some have happened only a handful of times in international cricket. For most dismissals the fielding side must appeal — ask the umpire 'How's that?' — before the umpire gives the batter out.
Bowled
The delivery hits the stumps and dislodges a bail, whether or not it touched the bat first. The cleanest dismissal in the game.
Caught
The batter hits the ball with bat or glove and a fielder catches it before it touches the ground. A catch by the wicketkeeper is 'caught behind'; a catch by the bowler is 'caught and bowled'. Fielders must stay inside the boundary while completing the catch.
LBW (Leg Before Wicket)
The ball hits the batter's body (usually the pad) before bat, and the umpire judges it would have gone on to hit the stumps. Key conditions: the ball must not pitch outside the leg stump line, and if the impact is outside the off-stump line the batter is only out if they offered no shot. This is the most technical dismissal and the one most often argued over — and reviewed via DRS.
Run out
While the batters are attempting a run, a fielder breaks the stumps with the ball at the end the batter is running to before the batter makes their ground. Since 2022 this also formally covers the non-striker being run out by the bowler for backing up too far before delivery — popularly called a 'Mankad'.
Stumped
The batter steps out of the crease to play a ball, misses it, and the wicketkeeper breaks the stumps before the batter gets back. Common against spin bowling.
Hit wicket
The batter breaks their own stumps with the bat or body while playing a shot or setting off for the first run.
The rare ones
Obstructing the field (deliberately blocking a fielder or the ball, which since 2017 also absorbs the old 'handled the ball' law); hit the ball twice (deliberately striking it a second time other than to guard the stumps); timed out (the incoming batter not ready within the allowed two to three minutes, depending on the competition); and retired out (a batter retires without the umpire's permission and does not resume). A batter who retires hurt is not out and may return later in the innings.
Extras: the runs nobody hits
Extras are runs credited to the team but no batter. A wide is a ball too far from the batter to hit with a normal stroke — one run, and it doesn't count as one of the over's six balls. A no-ball is an illegal delivery, most commonly the bowler overstepping the popping crease, but also full tosses above waist height and other breaches — one run, re-bowled, and in white-ball cricket the next delivery is a free hit on which the batter cannot be out bowled, caught, LBW or stumped. Byes are runs scrambled when the ball beats everyone without touching the batter; leg byes come off the batter's body when a shot was attempted. Umpires may award five penalty runs for offences such as the ball hitting a helmet parked on the field or deliberate unfair play. In tight games, extras conceded can decide the match.
DLS in plain words
The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method decides rain-affected limited-overs matches fairly. The idea: a batting side's ability to score depends on two resources — overs remaining and wickets in hand. When rain cuts overs from a match, DLS calculates what percentage of its resources each side actually had, and scales the target so both sides face an equivalent challenge. That's why a revised target is rarely a simple pro-rata of the original: a side chasing with all ten wickets intact over 20 overs can score much faster than over 50, so the target per over goes up. During a chase you'll see a 'par score' on the broadcast — the score the chasing team must be ahead of, at that exact ball and wicket count, to win if rain ends the game at that moment. A minimum number of overs (typically 20 in ODIs, 5 in T20s) must be possible in the second innings for a result to stand.
Umpires, DRS and reviews
Two on-field umpires make the decisions; a third (TV) umpire handles line calls like run outs and stumpings and hears reviews. Under the Decision Review System (DRS), each side gets a small number of reviews per innings (typically two in white-ball cricket, three in Tests) to challenge an on-field decision. Technology — ball-tracking for LBW, UltraEdge/Snicko for faint edges — is then used to check the call. A successful review is retained; an unsuccessful one is lost, except when the verdict is 'umpire's call' (the tracking is too marginal to overturn), in which case the on-field decision stands and the team keeps its review.
Deciding a winner: ties, Super Overs and draws
In limited-overs cricket the chasing side wins by passing the target with balls to spare (margin quoted in wickets), and the defending side wins by keeping the chasers short (margin in runs). If the scores finish level, the match is a tie, and most competitions — including the IPL and ICC events — break it with a Super Over: each side faces one over with two wickets available, highest score wins, and if that ties too, further Super Overs follow. In Tests there is no such mechanism: a match with time expired and no result is a draw, and a genuinely tied Test (both sides all out with equal scores) has happened only twice ever. League tables in limited-overs tournaments use net run rate (NRR) to separate teams level on points.
Glossary — 40 terms
Stats decoded
| Stat | Unit | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Runs | runs | The basic scoring unit and the headline number for any batter or team. Career run tallies (like Sachin Tendulkar's 34,357 international runs) are the standard measure of batting longevity and output. |
| Wickets | wickets | Dismissals credited to a bowler. Bowled, caught, LBW, stumped and hit wicket count to the bowler; run outs do not. Five wickets in an innings — a 'five-for' — is the bowling equivalent of a century. |
| Batting average | runs/dismissal | Runs scored divided by times dismissed (not-out innings inflate it, by design). A Test average of 50+ marks an all-time-great class of batter; Don Bradman's 99.94 is sport's most famous number. Averages are format-specific — a good T20 average is lower and matters less than strike rate. |
| Strike rate (batting) | runs/100 balls | Runs scored per 100 balls faced — the measure of scoring speed. Anything over 140 is strong in T20s, 90-100 is brisk in ODIs, while in Tests strike rate is context, not a target. In short formats it can matter more than average. |
| Bowling average | runs/wicket | Runs conceded divided by wickets taken. Lower is better: sub-25 in Tests is elite territory. It captures the cost of each wicket and rewards bowlers who are both penetrative and economical. |
| Economy rate | runs/over | Runs a bowler concedes per over. The core bowling stat in limited-overs cricket: under 7 is good in T20s, under 5 in ODIs. A death-overs specialist with a low economy under pressure is franchise gold. |
| Strike rate (bowling) | balls/wicket | Balls bowled per wicket taken — how quickly a bowler strikes. Especially telling in Tests, where taking 20 wickets wins matches: a strike rate near or below 50 marks a genuine attacking threat. |
| Net run rate (NRR) | runs/over differential | A team's tournament run rate scored minus run rate conceded, used to split teams level on points in league tables. A side bowled out is charged its full quota of overs. Playoff races in the IPL routinely hinge on decimals of NRR. |
| Required run rate | runs/over | In a chase, the runs per over the batting side still needs to win. The live tension meter of limited-overs cricket: watch it against the current run rate and wickets in hand to read the state of the game at a glance. |
| Dot-ball percentage | % | The share of deliveries a batter fails to score from (for bowlers, higher is better — it is pressure made visible). In T20s, strings of dot balls force risks and produce wickets, which is why analysts track it alongside strike rate. |
| Centuries (100s) | count | Number of innings of 100+ runs. A conversion measure of turning starts into match-shaping scores; career century counts (Tendulkar's 100 international hundreds, Kohli's ODI record) headline any batting legacy. |
| Five-wicket hauls | count | Innings in which a bowler takes five or more wickets, traditionally honoured like a batter's century. A career stacked with five-fors signals a bowler who runs through sides, not just contains them. |
Quick answers
How does scoring work in cricket?
Batters score runs by hitting the ball and running between the two creases (one run per completed end-swap), or by hitting boundaries: four runs if the ball reaches the rope along the ground, six if it clears it on the full. The fielding side can concede extras — wides, no-balls, byes and leg byes — which add to the team total. The team with more runs wins; in Tests, a side must also bowl the opponent out twice, or the match is a draw.
What are the ways a batter can get out in cricket?
There are ten: bowled, caught, LBW, run out, stumped, hit wicket, obstructing the field, hit the ball twice, timed out and retired out. The first five cover almost every dismissal you will actually see. For most, the fielding side must appeal to the umpire before the batter is given out, and contentious calls can be challenged with DRS technology.
What is LBW in simple terms?
LBW (leg before wicket) means the batter's body — usually the pad — blocked a ball that would otherwise have hit the stumps, without the bat touching it first. The batter is not out if the ball pitched outside the line of leg stump, or if it struck them outside off stump while they were playing a shot. Ball-tracking on DRS reviews shows the projected path, which is why LBW decisions produce cricket's most dramatic replays.
What is the difference between Test, ODI and T20 cricket?
Test cricket runs up to five days with two innings per side, a red ball and no over limits — and can end in a draw. An ODI is one innings of 50 overs per side with a white ball, done in a day. A T20 is 20 overs per side in about three hours, built around aggressive batting. The laws are the same; the formats differ in length, bowling limits and fielding restrictions, which completely change tactics.
How does the DLS method work in rain-affected matches?
DLS (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern) treats a batting side's remaining overs and wickets in hand as 'resources'. When rain shortens the game, it compares the resources each side had and rescales the target so both face an equivalent task — which is why a 20-over chase of a 50-over score is proportionally higher than a simple per-over split. Broadcasts show a live par score: if rain ends the match, the chasing side wins only if it is ahead of par at that moment.
What is a Super Over and when is it used?
A Super Over settles a tied limited-overs match. Each team bats for one extra over with two wickets available, usually sending in three of its biggest hitters, and the higher score wins. If the Super Over is also tied, another is played until there is a winner — a rule adopted after the 2019 ODI World Cup final, which England famously won on boundary count after a tied Super Over.
What is a powerplay in T20 and ODI cricket?
A powerplay is a stretch of overs with enforced fielding restrictions. In T20s, only two fielders may stand outside the 30-yard circle during the first six overs. ODIs have three phases: overs 1-10 allow two fielders out, 11-40 allow four, and 41-50 allow five. With fewer boundary riders, batters attack hardest during these overs, so powerplay scores often set the tone for the innings.
What is net run rate (NRR) and how is it calculated?
NRR is the tiebreaker for teams level on points in a league table. Take the team's total runs scored divided by total overs faced across the tournament, and subtract total runs conceded divided by overs bowled. A team bowled out early is charged its full quota of overs. A positive NRR means you score faster than you concede; IPL playoff spots regularly come down to its second decimal place.
Why can a Test match end in a draw?
A Test win requires dismissing the opposition twice and outscoring them within five days. If time runs out first — because of resilient batting, rain, or slow scoring — nobody wins and the match is a draw. A draw is different from a tie, which needs the match completed with scores exactly level; that has happened only twice in Test history. The World Test Championship awards partial points for draws.
How long does a cricket match last?
It depends on the format: a T10 takes about 90 minutes, a T20 about three hours, The Hundred about two and a half, an ODI about eight hours, and a Test is scheduled over five days with roughly 90 overs bowled per day. That range — from an evening's entertainment to a five-day contest — is unique among major sports.