Cricket is a sport full of specific terms that are not usually found in other sports. Although it is extremely popular in India and widely played in Asia, several countries still have no tradition in cricket and therefore seek to understand these terms to familiarise themselves with the sport, which will gain more worldwide reach as it has been included in the programme for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

In this text, we will explain innings in cricket. Understanding the term is essential to grasping the nuances of the game, as an inning completely changes the positioning, alternating the teams between attack and defence positions.

Innings Meaning in Cricket Explained 

In short, cricket innings are the turns in which each team can score runs. Considering that cricket is basically a turn sport, a match has two or four innings. In other words, it is as if each inning were one of the halves or quarters of the match.

However, the duration and number of innings are not fixed like the halves in many other sports. Depending on the type of cricket played, innings have different conditions for ending.

To understand the duration of innings, it is essential to know the definition of overs. An over is a set of 6 legal balls bowled by a bowler. When the over ends, the bowler is replaced by a teammate.

In T20 and ODI cricket, innings have a limited number of overs. They end automatically when the following values are reached:

• T20 - The innings has a maximum of 20 overs

• ODI - The innings has a maximum of 50 overs

T20 and ODI are the cricket formats that can be played by all countries associated with the International Cricket Council (ICC). They are shorter games, with a T20 match typically taking 3 hours and an ODI (One Day International) match taking around 8 hours.

However, all this changes when it comes to Test Matches. These matches can be played by the 12 countries that are full members of the International Cricket Council. In these matches, an inning has no limit on overs, and the condition for them to end is the elimination of all batsmen from the opposing team. Thus, the duration of the matches is unpredictable, but due to the high level of the teams, they usually take between 4 and 5 days.

In addition, innings in test cricket work differently from limited-overs formats, as each team has two innings instead of just one. Therefore, matches have 4 innings, twice as many as T20 and ODI. The countries that can compete in Test Matches are India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

It is worth remembering that innings in Test Matches can be interrupted when the daily time limit for the match is reached. The innings then resume the next day, at the exact point where they left off the previous day.

First Innings vs Second Innings 

The order of innings for each team is decided by luck, with a coin toss before the start of the match. This is very important, considering that the order of innings can directly affect the teams’mentality.

When the first innings ends, the team that was scoring already knows the final score it will have in the match. Then, the team that will play the second innings will know exactly how many runs it needs to score to win the game, which directly changes the strategies used. If the team scoring in the second innings exceeds the total number of runs scored by the team that played the first innings, the game ends with the victory of the team in the second innings.

Thus, the order of innings and their management play a crucial role in matches. Much of this strategic responsibility lies with the team captain, who must adapt tactics according to the match situation. Luck completely changes the strategy, which means that teams have to prepare perfectly for all possible scenarios. Knowing all these strategies is very useful for anyone who wants to bet on cricket at 1xBet.

How Does an Innings End?

There are several ways for an innings to end. The main ones are applied in overs-limited cricket (T20 and ODI). In these cases, innings usually end when 20 overs are completed in T20 and 50 overs in ODI.

There are several ways to end an innings. If you want to do online cricket betting, it is important to know all of them. Here are some of them:

• Over limit: The innings ends when 20 overs are completed by the team in T20 cricket, and 50 overs are completed by the team in ODI cricket. This does not apply to Test Matches.

• All out: The innings ends when all 10 wickets of the team are down.

• Declaration: In some specific types of cricket matches, the captain of a team may declare an innings closed at any time.

• Abandoned: In some cases, depending on weather conditions, especially when there is heavy rain at the stadium, the innings may be ended to preserve the health of the athletes and not compromise the quality of the game. This can also occur due to administrative issues. However, these conditions are very rare in cricket today, as preparation and organisation have greatly improved as the sport has grown.

• Match won: If the team batting in the second innings (or the fourth in the case of Test Matches) exceeds the number of runs scored by the opposing team, it automatically wins the game. In this case, the innings ended.

• Time limit - In some cases, cricket matches may have a time limit. So, the innings ends when that limit is reached.

Here, it is worth mentioning games with follow-on rules, which is the case with innings Test cricket Matches. In some cases, depending on the advantage that one team has over the other when the second innings ends, the team that played the second innings is asked to also play the third. In these cases, instead of the sequence A B A B, the game has a sequence of A B B A.

Individual Innings

The term innings is also used in cricket in another way, to refer to each batsman's turn at bat. This is known as a personal innings, which covers the period from when the batter starts batting until he is dismissed, or until the team's innings ends while he is the batsman.

FAQ

What is the difference between innings and overs?

Innings are the turns of each team in cricket. Overs are the sequences of 6 legal balls bowled by the bowlers. In T20 cricket, an innings has 20 overs. In ODI cricket, an innings has 50 overs. In Test Matches, there is no limit to the number of overs in each innings.

What does“all out”mean in an innings?

All out is a way of ending an innings. It happens when all 10 wickets of the team are knocked down.

How many innings are there in T20 cricket?

In T20 cricket, there are two innings, one for each team. Each innings consists of 20 overs. The only type of cricket that has more than 2 innings is Test Matches, where each team has 2 innings, totalling 4 innings in the match.