The innings
Each team bats for an agreed number of overs or until ten of its eleven batters are dismissed, whichever comes first. Two batters are at the wicket at all times; when one is out the innings continues with the next in the order.
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FIELD · ICC · BCCI
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball contest between two teams of eleven, played on an oval field with a 22-yard pitch at its centre. One side bats to score runs while the other bowls and fields to dismiss them. The format decides the length: twenty overs a side, fifty overs, or an unlimited multi-day match.
group
PLAYERS
11 a side, plus named substitutes and an impact player in some formats
schedule
DURATION
T20 ≈ 3 hrs · ODI ≈ 8 hrs · Test up to 5 days
stadium
PLAYING AREA
Grass outfield with a prepared 22-yard clay pitch
scoreboard
SCORING
Runs — 1 per completed run, 4 along the ground, 6 over the rope
HOW IT IS PLAYED
Core Rules
The over
An over is six legal deliveries bowled from one end. No bowler may bowl two overs in succession, and limited-overs formats cap each bowler at a fifth of the innings — four overs in a T20, ten in a fifty-over match.
Scoring runs
Batters score by running between the creases after striking the ball, each completed exchange counting one. A ball reaching the boundary along the ground is four; clearing it on the full is six. Extras — wides, no-balls, byes and leg byes — are added to the team total.
Bowled and caught
A batter is bowled if the delivery hits the stumps and dislodges a bail, and caught if a fielder takes the ball cleanly before it touches the ground after it came off the bat or glove holding the bat.
Leg before wicket (LBW)
A batter is out LBW if the ball would have hit the stumps but was intercepted by the body, provided the ball pitched in line or outside off stump and struck in line — unless no shot was offered, in which case an impact outside off still counts.
Run out and stumped
A batter is run out if the fielding side breaks the wicket while they are short of the crease during a run. Stumped applies when the wicketkeeper does so after the batter has left the crease to play a delivery and does not attempt a run.
No-balls and free hits
Overstepping the popping crease, a full toss above waist height, or more than the permitted bouncers is a no-ball: one run to the batting side and, in limited-overs cricket, a free hit on which the batter can only be run out.
Wides
A delivery passing so wide or high that the batter cannot reasonably play a normal stroke is called wide — one extra run and the ball is re-bowled. Limited-overs interpretations are stricter than in Test cricket.
Fielding restrictions
Limited-overs matches restrict how many fielders may stand outside the thirty-yard circle: two during the powerplay, then four, and five in the closing overs of a fifty-over innings. No more than five fielders may be on the leg side at any time.
Deciding the result
The team with more runs wins. Rain-affected limited-overs games are settled by the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method, and tied matches in knockout competitions are resolved with a Super Over.
WATCH OUT
Fouls & Penalties
- errorObstructing the field — deliberately blocking or distracting a fielder attempting a catch or run out.
- errorHandling the ball with the hand not holding the bat, now covered under obstructing the field.
- errorHitting the ball twice, other than to protect the wicket.
- errorTimed out — the incoming batter not ready to face within the allotted time.
- errorRunning on the protected area of the pitch, deliberate short runs, and unfair ball-tampering, all penalised with five penalty runs.
WHO DECIDES
Match Officials
- sportsTwo on-field umpires — adjudicate dismissals, call no-balls and wides, and count the over.
- sportsThird umpire — rules on television referrals, run outs, stumpings and boundary calls.
- sportsFourth umpire — manages the match balls and assists off the field.
- sportsMatch referee — enforces the code of conduct and sanctions over-rate and discipline breaches.
GOVERNED BY ICC · BCCI
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