The Basics

Cricket is played between two teams, each consisting of 11 players. The game takes place on an oval-shaped field with a rectangular 22-yard strip in the center called the pitch.

Batting and Scoring

• Two batsmen from the batting team are on the field at a time.
• The objective is to score runs by hitting the ball and running between the wickets.
• Runs can also be scored by hitting the ball to or over the boundary (4 or 6 runs).

Bowling and Dismissals

The bowling team tries to dismiss the batsmen and limit their scoring. A batsman can be dismissed in several ways, including:

• Bowled: The ball hits the wicket directly from the bowler.
• Caught: A fielder catches the ball before it touches the ground.
• LBW (Leg Before Wicket): The ball would have hit the wicket if not for the batsman's leg.
• Run out: The fielding team hits the wicket while the batsmen are running between wickets.

Overs and Innings

An over consists of six legal deliveries bowled by one bowler. After an over, a different bowler bowls from the opposite end. The number of overs in a match varies depending on the format:

• Test matches: No limit on overs, played over 5 days
• One Day Internationals (ODIs): 50 overs per team
• T20: 20 overs per team

Winning the Match

The team that scores more runs wins the match. In limited-overs formats, if the team batting second scores more runs before using all their overs or losing all wickets, they win. In Test matches, the team that takes all 20 wickets and scores more runs wins.