Cricket is a popular sport that originated in England and has gained immense popularity worldwide. It is played between two teams, with each team consisting of eleven players. The game is played on a grass field called a cricket pitch, which is usually oval-shaped and has a rectangular area called the cricket crease at each end.
The objective of the game is for the batting team to score runs while the bowling and fielding team tries to dismiss the batsmen and restrict the scoring. The team that scores the most runs wins the match.
The game is divided into innings, with each team getting a chance to bat and bowl. During their batting innings, two batsmen from the batting team take positions at opposite ends of the pitch. The bowler from the opposing team delivers the ball towards the batsman at the other end, who tries to hit it and score runs. The batsman can score runs by hitting the ball and running between the creases or by hitting it to the boundary, earning four runs if it crosses the boundary on the ground or six runs if it crosses without touching the ground.
The bowling team aims to dismiss the batsmen in various ways. The most common method is by getting the batsman out "caught" if a fielder catches the ball hit by the batsman before it touches the ground. The bowling team can also get a batsman out by hitting the stumps behind the batsman with the ball, known as "bowled," or by trapping the batsman in front of the wicket, called "lbw" (leg before wicket).
Cricket matches can last anywhere from a few hours to several days, depending on the format of the game. The three main formats of cricket are Test matches, One-Day Internationals (ODIs), and Twenty20 (T20) matches. Test matches are the longest format and can last up to five days, while ODIs are limited to 50 overs per team, and T20 matches are limited to 20 overs per team, making them shorter and more fast-paced.
