How to Play Cricket - A Bat & Ball Game

Cricket is a physical sport that requires agility to bat, bowl, and field. At the same time, two teams of 11 players each compete. ICC created a set of rules for the game. These are the same for both male and female players. The game begins with the captains of both teams and the match referee gathered for the coin toss. The captain who wins the toss may choose to bat or field first. This procedure applies to all formats. However, the dress code and fielding restrictions differ depending on the format. For a Test match, players must wear all white, while ODI and T20 matches require colored tees and trousers. 

Umpires play an important role in the game because they oversee the proceedings. They decide whether the batsman is out, call no-balls and wide's, and make sure both teams are following the rules.

In this section, we will learn about the game's laws and how a cricket match is played. The cricket game starts when the on-field umpire says, "Let's play!"

Let’s play! A Glimpse of the Game

• Positions are taken by two batsmen from the batting side and 11 players from the fielding side. They are joined on the field by two umpires. One stands on the pitch, while the other stands on the leg side.

• Assume A and B are two teams competing in a limited overs cricket match. The captain of team A wins the toss and chooses to bat first.

• The game begins with a bowler from the B team bowling to the first batter of the A team. They are commonly referred to as the opening-bowler and opening-batsman. The first two batters are known as openers because they begin their team's innings.

• Batsmen score runs by hitting the balls bowled at them. Fielders try to stop the balls that are hit and even catch them in order to get the batters out.

• To call an over, each bowler must bowl six legal deliveries.

• After each over, the bowling and batting ends are switched. At the end of each over, the non-striker becomes the striker for the next over.

• After each over, the wicket-keeper is required to change ends. In general, the keeper stands far away from the stumps when a fast bowler bowls and closer to the stumps when a spinner bowls.

• When a batsman is out, he must walk off the field, and a new batsman enters the crease. If all of team A's batsmen are out or team B has bowled their allotted overs, the innings is considered complete

•  In the second innings, team B comes on to bat in order to chase down the target set by team A.

• If Team B meets the goal, they are declared the winners; otherwise, Team A is declared the winners.

• At the end of the match, a tie occurs if the scores are equal.

Scoring

• To avoid errors, both manual and electronic scoring are used during the match. The scoring is done cumulatively.

• All runs scored with the bat, as well as extra runs such as no-balls, wide balls, and so on, are added to the team total.

• In some cases, on-field umpires find it difficult to make decisions such as boundaries, out, no-ball, and so on. As a result, they seek the assistance of a third umpire

•  The third umpire considers video visuals before making a decision.