Are you new to cricket and struggling to grasp the concept and rules of the game? You’re in luck because we’re here to guide you on your cricket journey in India and show you all the wonders of this sport. 

Unlike other sports like baseball, football, basketball and tennis, cricket doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves. In fact, its popularity is almost limited to European countries only as well as India, making it hard to find information about cricket and its rules. One popular sport that highly resembles cricket is baseball. 

Both games have a batter and the goal is to score as many runs as possible during the game. Despite the similarities, baseball and cricket are different from each other. First, both games differ in the arena they are played in. 

While baseball is played on a triangular field, cricket is played on an oval field. The way that the teams score is also different since in baseball, a team can score by running on the bases on the field and by hitting the ball beyond the designated fielding area.  In cricket, a player can score by running the length of the wicket or by hitting the ball beyond the boundary rope. 

What is cricket?

Cricket is a game that was first found in England by shepherds who are herding their flock of sheep. The game was later granted benevolence by aristocrats and was now recognized as England’s national game. Crickets even became popular outside of England and spread across the Australian, African and Asian continents.

All about the game 

In a game of crickets, you will often see two teams with 11 members each. At the beginning of every game, a toss would be performed that the captain of the two teams should participate in. The winning captain can decide whether his team would bat or toss during the first round of the game. If the team bats first, their aim should be to score a lot of runs to ensure that the other team wouldn’t reach their score or go beyond it. 

How does cricket work? 

Just like most sports, cricket is a simple game that becomes easier to understand the more that you break it down. In cricket, one of the players will throw the ball while another player tries to hit it beyond the boundary rope. Understand cricket better by reading its absolute basics below: 

The basics of cricket 

Every cricket game has two teams with 11 members on their side while the whole match is officiated by two umpires who had the absolute decision on the game. Just like baseball, one of the teams in cricket would act as the batter while the other would play the thrower. The goal is to score as many runs as the opposite team by either hitting the ball over the boundary line or throwing the ball in a way that makes it hard for the batter to catch so your team can proceed to bat in the next round of the game. 

Different game formats in a cricket 

In every professional cricket match, you will see three common formats that we would elaborate on below: 

• Twenty20 – The T20 match is the quickest match to play in cricket since both teams only had to face 20 overs. This essentially finishes the match in only 3 hours. 
• One day match – A one day match is exactly what it suggests. Unlike the quick match in T20 and the long matches in test matches, a one day match can only last a day as each team bats once with 50 overs during a match. 
• Test match – The test match is known as the longest match type in cricket and could last up to five days. During this match, both teams will go through the batting lineup twice, which is equivalent to a total of four innings. Just to make it clear, a single inning can last for at least a single day.

A test match game format can have over 90 overs. A single over should have six bowls or pitches that a bowler or the player throwing the ball delivers.   

Key roles in a cricket match 

There are 3 important roles in a cricket match and these are the batsmen, bowler and fielder. The batsmen are responsible for scoring the runs in the game by hitting the ball across the boundary line. Meanwhile, the bowler is the one responsible for throwing the ball while attempting to get the batsmen out within difficult throws. 

Finally, the fielder is the one who assists the bowler during the game. Essentially a fielder is someone who catches the ball and is situated right behind the batter. Check out the details below for more information about the game. 

Batsmen or batter 

The game of cricket would almost always revolves around the batsmen since they control the score of the game and the fate of their team. This position is the most loved and valued by the audience since they are the ones responsible for spicing up the matches. The batsmen are also known to cause hysteria within the crowd for their incredible way of walloping the ball over the ground. 

During the game, the batting side of the match will begin by sending one player in the batting order to hit the ball on the field. The striker will take the pitches made by the bowler while the other batsmen that are non-strikers would be placed at the other end of the pitch. While the players take their place on the field, the remainder of the team would be seated on the bench as they await their turn in the batting rotation. 

The bowler on the other side of the striker would attempt to get the striker out by delivering bowls that would confuse the batsmen as they swung the bat. When this happens, the batsmen would be replaced by another player from their team. Once all of the players from the batsmen team are out, this would signify the end of the innings and the team of the bowler will now play as the batsmen. 

Bowler 

The bowler is the player that is responsible for delivering the bowls to the batter and attempting to kick the batsmen out of the game. During a match, the fielding team (bowler’s teammates) would scatter around the field in their positions to stop the runs from the batsmen at the wicket, which are described as stumps in the ground where the batsmen should be. 

The wicket-keepers often wear a webbed glove, which is designed to catch the ball. The wicket-keeper would also be equipped with a protective pad to keep their shins safe during the game and well behind the wicket. The wicket-keepers are responsible for catching the balls that the batsman fails to hit during the match. 

The goal of the bowler during this game is to prevent the batsman from making any runs during the match by attempting to get them out or as professionals would call it, dismissal in cricket. 

Once the bowler had delivered six balls, this is now considered an over and a different member from the fielding team would be given the ball and would perform the role of the bowler on the opposite side of the pitch. 

During the game, the batsman doesn’t need to change ends, which means that the striker and non-striker after each other take turns handling the bat. Any member of the fielding team can pitch the bowl as long as no single bowler delivers two consecutive overs on the field. Once the bowler begins an over, they are required to finish it unless of course the bowler is injured or suspended during the game. 

Cricket terms that you need to know 

To fully understand cricket and how it proceeds on the field, you need to be familiar with the following terms used during the game: 

Boundary – this is the rope around the edge of the pitch. A batsman can score for their team once they hit the ball across the boundary.

LBW – this is when the batsman stops the ball from hitting the stumps using their pad and is given an out.

Beamer – this is when a fast bowler bowls the ball to the batsman and it reaches the batsman without bouncing.

Appeal – This is when the bowler shouts over the umpire because the bowler thinks that he got the batsman out.

Bails – These are the two small items that usually sit on top of the stumps and need to be removed before a batsman can be bowled out. 

Dolly – This is an easy catch for the fielder.