Many times you have heard this word “Net Run Rate” while watching a cricket match during broadcasting where commentators or experts talk about teams maintaining their Net Run Rate in a close contest. It Might have raised questions in your head that it must be some complex mathematical formulae which will not be easy to understand but on the other hand the formulae which is used to calculate the net run rate is very simple.
Firstly let’s understand what is Net run rate and how it is calculated?
A Net Run Rate is a statistical method which is used in analyzing teams performance in cricket. It comes into existence when two teams scored same points in limited over format in order to identify which team will have an edge over the other it is calculated through Net Run Rate. In other words, you can define Net Run Rate as an indicator of Team’s abilities.
How Net Run Rate is Calculated?
Net Run Rate=(Total Runs Scored/ Total Overs faced) – ( Total Runs conceded /Total Overs bowled)
Let’s understand this by an example mathematically:
Total Runs Scored: 100
Total Overs faced: 5
Total Runs Conceded: 90
Total Overs Bowled: 6
So the Net run rate will be (100/5- 90/6)=(20-15)= 5.00.
Now the questions arises what is positive net run rate and what is the negative net run rate?
A Team earns a positive net run rate when it scores faster than its opposition overall throughout the match whereas it is negative when the team is scoring slower than the teams it has come up against. Head to Head record and Duckworth Lewis Method are the alternatives used in cricket in place of Net Run Rate.
