Cricket Rules Explained

Cricket can look dense from the outside, but most matches still turn on a small set of ideas: one side bats, the other bowls and fields, the batting side scores runs, and an innings ends when ten wickets are lost, an over limit is reached, or — in formats that allow it — a captain declares. This guide explains those foundations for global English-language fans, including readers in India who follow both international cricket and franchise leagues.

One distinction matters more than almost anything else for beginners: the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) publishes the Laws of Cricket, while competitions publish playing conditions that adapt those Laws for a format or tournament. Confusing the two is how fans end up treating a powerplay or a Decision Review System (DRS) protocol as if it were a universal cricket law.

Laws of Cricket versus playing conditions

MCC is the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. It debates, drafts, and interprets the shared legal framework of the sport. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is cricket's global governing body for international competition, and it still relies on MCC for the Laws themselves. At many levels of the game, governing bodies then add playing regulations or playing conditions that can create subtle differences from the bare Laws.

In practice, that means an MCC Law answers questions such as what counts as a fair delivery, how runs are scored, or when a batter is out bowled. An ICC or tournament playing-condition document answers questions such as how many overs each side gets in a men's One-Day International (ODI), how fielding restrictions work in a T20 innings, or how a rain-affected chase is recalculated.

• Laws of Cricket: shared framework across the sport (current public edition named below).
• ICC Playing Conditions: adaptations for men's and women's international formats.
• Tournament handbooks: further adaptations for events such as the Indian Premier League (IPL).

This article is written against the MCC Laws of Cricket (2017 Code, 4th Edition – 2026), which MCC has stated come into force from 1 October 2026. When a detail is competition-specific, we say so and point you toward the relevant conditions rather than inventing a single global rule.

The field, wickets, and overs

Two sets of three stumps with bails form the wickets at either end of the pitch. A batting partnership has two batters on the field at once: the striker faces the bowler; the non-striker waits at the bowler's end. The bowling side has a bowler, a wicket-keeper, and fielders.

What “ten wickets” means

A side usually bats until ten of its players are dismissed. Because two batters must be at the crease, the loss of ten wickets leaves only one batter available and ends the innings (unless the format ends earlier for another reason). Scoreboards often show this as “all out.”

Overs

Bowling is organised in overs. In ordinary play an over consists of six legal deliveries from one end. After an over, bowling switches to the other end. Illegal deliveries such as no-balls and wides are handled under the Laws and, where relevant, under playing conditions that may add free-hit or replay consequences in limited-overs cricket.

Illustrative example: if a bowler has sent down five fair balls and then bowls a wide, that wide counts as an extra and does not complete the over; a fair sixth ball is still required before the over ends. Exact signalling and any free-hit rule depend on the match's conditions.

How a team scores runs

Runs are the currency of cricket. Most runs are scored when batters hit the ball and run between the wickets, or when the ball reaches the boundary. Some runs are extras awarded to the batting side without being credited to an individual batter. Crichub's How Cricket Scoring Works guide walks through boundaries, extras, targets, and run rate in more detail.

• Running between the wickets after a hit.
• Boundary allowances when the ball reaches or clears the boundary (commonly four or six).
• Extras such as wides, no-balls, byes, and leg-byes.
• Penalty runs in specific unfair-play or other Law-defined situations.

Common ways a batter can be dismissed

The Laws set out several methods of dismissal. Beginners most often see the five below; the fuller list in the current Code also includes hit the ball twice, hit wicket, obstructing the field, and timed out (Laws 32–40 in the MCC numbering).

Bowled

The bowler's delivery hits the striker's wicket and puts it down, with the batter not already dismissed by another method that takes priority under the Laws.

Caught

A fair catch is taken from a ball hit by the bat (or a hand/glove holding the bat) before the ball has become dead. Boundary catches and “caught behind” are familiar broadcast labels for the same Law idea.

Leg before wicket (LBW)

LBW is a detailed Law. In plain terms, the umpire asks whether a fair delivery would have gone on to hit the stumps and whether the ball first struck the batter in line with the conditions set out in the Law. Broadcast graphics summarise the decision; the Law text is what umpires apply.

Run out

A batter is run out if a wicket is fairly put down while that batter is out of their ground and attempting a run (or related movement covered by the Law). Either batter can be dismissed this way.

Stumped

Stumping is a specialised form of dismissal, usually involving the wicket-keeper putting the wicket down while the striker is out of their ground and not attempting a run, after the bowler has delivered the ball. Exact criteria sit in the Laws.

Fair and unfair play (high level)

Beyond dismissals and scoring, the Laws cover the spirit and fairness of play: dangerous bowling, ball tampering, time wasting, and other unfair acts can draw warnings, removals, or penalty runs. Fans do not need every sub-clause to follow a match, but it helps to know that “unfair play” is a legal category, not only a commentary opinion.

Where rules change by format

Test, ODI, and T20 cricket share the Laws, yet feel different because playing conditions change match length, fielding limits, ball changes, and interruption rules. Powerplays, for example, are limited-overs fielding restrictions in playing conditions — not a chapter of the MCC Laws. See Cricket Match Formats Explained for those format differences, and How to Read a Cricket Scorecard when you want to translate rules into the numbers on a summary card.

• Men's ODIs are commonly structured as 50 overs a side under ICC men's ODI playing conditions.
• Men's T20Is are commonly structured as 20 overs a side under ICC men's T20I playing conditions.
• Franchise T20 leagues such as the IPL publish their own conditions; do not assume they copy every international clause.

Official sources to check before a match

Before treating any numerical detail as settled for a series you are watching, check the edition that applies to that series. MCC Laws, ICC international Playing Conditions, and league handbooks (such as IPL) must be read as separate documents:

1. MCC Laws of Cricket (2017 Code, 4th Edition – 2026) for the shared legal framework.
2. ICC Playing Conditions for the relevant international format and gender (men's Test/ODI/T20I editions marked Effective from October 2026 are listed on the ICC index).
3. The competition handbook for franchise or domestic events.

This guide is an original Crichub explainer for newer fans. It is not a substitute for the MCC Laws or any tournament's published playing conditions.