Cricket is one of the widely celebrated games across the world. People love watching cricket, especially in stadiums, live. The experience is completely different and will definitely be wholesome if you know the basic rules and don’t want to rely on the umpire or person sitting next to you.
Let’s get into it!
The game involves 11 players each in two teams. The team
that wins the toss gets to decide if they want to bat or field first. Here, the
batter is the one who does the batting and the pitcher is the bowler.
Roles In The Field
Both the teams should participate in batting and fielding. The
aim of the bowler is to take down the batsman’s wicket and the batsman
concentrates on hitting the ball so that it doesn’t strike the stump or touch
his leg, scoring runs in the process. The fielders prevent the ball from
hitting the boundary line and save runs.
There will be two batsmen on the pitch at the same time.
Scoring Method
When the batsman hits the ball, he can run to the other side
of the pitch. This is considered as one run. 1 run is added each
time they change the pitch. The team that holds most runs at the end of the
match is declared winner.
6 Runs: when the ball flies outside the
boundary
4 Runs: when the ball touches the boundary
after bounce
Out/Wicket
Bowled Out: when the
bowler takes the wicket directly by the bowl
Caught Out: when the fielder catches the batted ball in
mid-air
Run Out: when a fielder catches the ground ball and hits the
stump before the batsman can reach the pitch
Leg Before Wicket (LBW): when the batsman’s body restricts
the bowled ball from taking the wicket.
Field, Ball and The Bat
The size of the field varies from ground to ground. The
fielders are placed around the ground. In power play, only two fielders are
allowed to be positioned outside the yard circle.
A 9 inches
circumference ball made of cork at the core is used. This ball is slightly
smaller, harder and heavier than the baseball. The bat is mostly made of willow
wood with width of 4.25 inches and length of 38 inches, maximum.
How The Game Ends?
The match is decided by the “overs”. A over consists of six balls
bowled by the bowler to the batsman. When 10 batsmen are out before reaching
the attainable score, that team loses. If the team scores the target before the
end of overs and minimum two wickets in hand, that team is considered as the
winner.
Some Common Cricket Slangs
Bumper/Bouncer – a short pitched ball at the height of head
Bunny - a lower order batsman (usually a bowler), who is
easy to dismiss
Duck/Quack - when a batsman is dismissed even before scoring
a single run
Googly - a ball from a leg spinner spinning the other way
Howzat - when a bowler/fielder appeals for a wicket
Jaffa - ball that cannot be played
No Ball - ball that is thrown outside the pitch that adds 1
run to the batting team
Wide - when the ball is unreachable to the batsman’s bat
Yorker - a full pitched ball that is aimed at the batsman’s
toes or on the crease line.
Written by - Keerthana Lakshmi
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