Cricket is a fun bat-and-ball game that millions of kids and adults love around the world — from parks in India to stadiums in Australia! Let’s learn the basic rules in a simple and easy way so you can enjoy watching or even playing cricket.
🌟 What Is Cricket?
Cricket is a team sport played between two teams, and each team tries to score more runs than the other. It is usually played on a big grassy field with a flat central strip called the pitch.
👥 How Many Players?
- Each team has 11 players.
- Two teams take turns batting (trying to score) and fielding (trying to stop the other team from scoring).
🏏 The Cricket Field
- The field is usually oval-shaped.
- The pitch is in the middle: it’s a long, flat 22-yard strip where most of the action happens.
- At each end of the pitch are wickets — three sticks called stumps topped with two small wooden pieces called bails.
🥏 How Do You Score Runs?
Runs are how a team gets points. Here’s how batsmen score:
✔️ Running between the wickets: After hitting the ball, the two batters run to each other’s end of the pitch — each swap of ends earns 1 run.
✔️ Boundary scores:
- 4 runs — ball hits the ground then reaches the boundary.
- 6 runs — ball crosses the boundary in the air.
🎯 What Do Fielding Teams Try to Do?
The fielding team bowls and fields with the goal to:
🔹 Get the batsmen out (dismissed)
🔹 Stop them from scoring runs
Some common ways a batsman can get out:
- Bowled: The ball hits the wicket and knocks off the bails.
- Caught: A fielder catches the ball before it hits the ground.
- Run out: Fielders break the wicket before a batsman reaches safety while running.
🌀 What Is a Bowler?
- A bowler is the player who throws the ball toward the batsman.
- A set of 6 legal balls delivered by the bowler is called an over.
- After one bowler completes an over, another bowler bowls the next over from the opposite end.
🧑⚖️ Who Makes the Rules?
There are officials called umpires who watch the game and decide what happens — like when a batsman is out or when a ball is not fair.
🧠 Simple Summary
🏏 Two teams of 11 players take turns batting and bowling.
🏏 Runs are scored when batters hit the ball and run, or hit it to the boundary.
🏏 The fielding team tries to get batters out and stop runs.
🏏 The team with more runs wins!
🎉 Fun Fact for Kids
Cricket can be played in lots of places — from big stadiums to a small field or even in the backyard with family and friends!
