going down

There's a difference between learning to play cricket and learning for playing it better than the opposition. So, you may cram up the commercial rule books, master the strokes as they are supposed to be played archaically, but then, if you think learning to play cricket is all about going down to nets, batting for a bit and then tossing around the ball for sometime, then be prepared to play it only at the weekends with your kids.

The process of learning cricket properly often receives a setback due to the lack of a good coach or if the senior players are not helpful. Wrong way of playing gets reinforced with every practice, thus, the only way out is to join a club with a good coaching staff and system for overall good learning, progress and improvements. But the need to develop the skills from the grassroots level is paramount; so are the needs of learning the rules of the game prior to mastering the different kinds of hits and swings. While these take care of the physical agility, mental agility and real time situation-analysis skills can be honed with fantasy cricket. Online cricket games, as they are also known as, gives the chances to get associated with the bigger picture. It is a great way to get connected with game strategies through any of the numerous virtual tournaments and also a wonderful opportunity to try and test one's cricketing knowledge.

There are a total of forty-two laws that the game of cricket involves; they are directed towards the regular players; substitutes and runners; the umpires and the scorers; the ball and the bat; the pitch and the wickets; the bowling, popping and return creases; the preparation and maintenance of the playing area; the innings, and the follow-on; declaration and forfeiture; intervals, game beginning and cessation; field practice; scoring runs; bowling, batting and fielding as well as fair and unfair play.

But there is also something called indoor cricket that varies slightly from the normal cricket rules; indoor cricket comprises rules that are similar but for a few ones. These are regarding the number of overs that are played (16); overs per bowler restricted to 2 while for batsmen it's 4; getting a batsman caught out off the net is prohibited and he loses 5 runs though is allowed to stay in until 4 overs are completed; runs are calculated by hitting to different sections of the court besides scoring them through hit and run and a bowler bowling a no ball or a wide. In case of the last one, two runs are given to the batting side.