Here’s a guide to the game:
General
The game of indoor cricket
Playing arena
Players
Equipment
Scoring
Dismissals
Mankads
LBW
Officials
Result
General
Indoor cricket is a variant of and shares many basic concepts with cricket. The game is most often played between two teams each consisting of eight players, in matches featuring two innings of sixteen 8-ball overs each. Rather than simply being played indoors, the match is played on specifically designed courts covered in an artificial surface and enclosed by tight string netting.
The game of indoor cricket
In terms of the concept of the game indoor cricket is similar to cricket. Like its outdoor cousin, indoor cricket involves 2 batsmen, a bowler and a team of fielders. The bowler bowls the ball to the batsmen who must score runs. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. Despite these basic similarities, the game itself differs significantly from its traditional counterpart in several ways, most notably on the field of play and the duration of the game.
Playing arena
The length of an indoor cricket pitch is the same as a conventional cricket pitch, and has 3 stumps at each end, but there the similarities end. The arena is completely enclosed by tight netting, a few metres from each side and end of the pitch. The playing surface is normally artificial grass matting. Whilst the pitch is the same length, however, the batsmen don't have to run the entire length. The striker's crease is in the regulation place in front of the stumps, but the non-striker's crease is only half way down the pitch.
Players
Indoor cricket is played between 2 teams of 8 players. Each player must bowl 2 overs, and bat in a partnership for 4 overs. A faster version of the game exists, where each side is reduced to 6 players and each innings lasts 12 overs instead of 16.
Equipment
The stumps used in indoor cricket are not, for obvious reasons, stuck in the ground. Instead, they are collapsible spring-loaded stumps that immediately spring back to the standing position when knocked over. The ball used in indoor cricket is a modified cricket ball, with a softer centre. The ball also differs in that it is yellow in colour so to make it more obvious to see indoors against varied backgrounds. Both traditional outdoor cricket bats or more specialised lighter-weight indoor cricket bats may be used.
Scoring
Scoring in indoor cricket is split into 2 areas: physical runs and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net. Bonus scores for particular parts of the nets follow:
• Zone A (front net - behind the keeper): 0 bonus runs
• Zone B (side nets between the striker's end and halfway down the pitch): 1 run
• Zone C (side nets between halfway and the bowlers end): 2 runs
• Zone D (back net - behind the bowler):
• On the bounce: 4 runs
• On the full: 6 runs
• Zone B or C onto Zone D: 3 runs
NB: For bonus runs to be scored, at least one physical run must be scored. The bonus runs are then added to the physical runs.
Dismissals
A batsman can be dismissed in the same ways they can be in conventional cricket - with variations in the case of LBW and mankad (below) - and with the exception of timed out. When a batsman gets dismissed, however, five runs are deducted from their total and they continue to bat. Batsmen bat in pairs for 4 overs at a time, irrespective of whether they are dismissed.
Mankads
A method of dismissal in indoor cricket that is far more prevalent than its outdoor counterpart is the mankad. A mankad is given out if the bowler completes their bowling action without releasing the ball, breaks the stumps at their end without letting go of the ball and the non-striker is out of their ground.
LBW
Whilst LBW is still a valid form of dismissal in indoor cricket it is a far rarer occurrence in indoor than it is in outdoor cricket. A batsmen can only be dismissed LBW if they do not offer a shot and the umpire is satisfied that the ball would then have hit the stumps.
Officials
Indoor cricket is officiated by one umpire who is situated outside of the playing area at the strike batsmen's end of the court. The umpire sits or stands on a raised platform that is usually 10 feet above ground level. Secondary officials (such as scorers or video umpires) have sometimes been utilised in national or international competition.
Result
The team with the higher score at the conclusion of each innings is declared the winner of the match. The second innings continues for a full 16 overs even if the batting side passes the first innings total due to the possibility of a side finishing behind a total even after they have surpassed it.
In most cases indoor cricket is played according to a skins system, where the batting partnerships from each innings are compared against one another and the higher of the two is deemed to have won the skin. For example, the second batting partnership in the first innings might score 5 runs whilst the second partnership in the second innings scores 10 - the latter would be deemed to have won the skin. The team that has won the greater of the four skins available is often awarded the win if the totals are tied.