In cricket, the term ‘innings’ is usually referred to as ‘Team A’ taking their turn to bat with ‘Team B’ bowling and fielding before ‘Team B’ comes out to bat in the next innings and ‘Team A’ takes their turn to bowl and field in the cricket match.
In simpler terms, the batting team from Innings 1 changes to the fielding team in Innings 2 and vice versa.
In a test match or a first-class match, each team usually bats twice which means that the match can go up to four innings at maximum. How many innings will be played out usually depends on the number of days and time allotted to a certain match along with the pitch and weather conditions in the cricket stadium.
In a limited-overs match, each team usually bats only once with the no. of overs and a certain time limit agreed upon for both innings.
According to the Marylebone Cricket Club Law 13.3, a team innings can come to an end in the following ways:
- When the batting side is bowed out by the bowling side, i.e. they lose all their wickets
- After the fall of a wicket, the batting team is not able to send any batsman onto the field
- The Captain declares the innings
- The Captain forfeits the innings
- The number of overs or the allotted time for the innings comes to an end
It is very important to understand and know about the number of innings to be played in a match before placing a bet. If one sees a whole innings played out in a cricket match, he/she will more likely be able to predict the outcome of the second innings based on the quality of batsmen available to the team about to bat second in the said match.
A simple situational example can help us in understanding what is meant by innings in cricket. In the fourth and final test of the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy, Australia won the toss and decided to bat first.
Batting first, the home side posted 369 on the scoreboard in the first innings with Marnus Labuschagne scoring 108 runs. In reply, India posted 336 on the scoreboard in the second innings with Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur putting on 123 runs in their partnership for the seventh wicket.
In the third innings of the match, Australia was bowled out for 294 with Mohammed Siraj starring with a 5-wicket haul. In the fourth innings, all the results were real possibilities with 100 overs allotted to both teams either to take 10 wickets or to chase down the mammoth target of 328 runs on a fifth-day Gabba pitch.
Shubman Gill’s individual innings of 91 runs and Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten individual innings of 89 runs helped the visitors chase the target down with 3 wickets and 3 overs in hand scripting history down under.
It is also very important to understand that innings is a cricketing term used for both team innings and a batsman’s individual innings. We have to analyze a sentence or a bet depending upon the practical usage of the term innings to not get confused between the two.
Innings are just one of the many aspects of cricket’s gameplay. Want to learn more? Check our other articles related to cricket metrics:
- How to Calculate Run Rate in Cricket?
- What Is a Dot Ball in Cricket?
- What Are Boundaries in Cricket?
- What Is a Wide Ball in Cricket?