The Indian Premier League points table has spiced up in a big way. With Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru winning their respective matches on Sunday, May 12, the race for the playoffs is as intense as it can get.
As many as seven teams are still in the hunt for three remaining spots in the playoffs and despite wins being way too necessary, the Net Run Rate (NRR) factor is also pretty important. When teams are stuck on the same number of points, NRR is the way to break that tie.
But how is the NRR calculated? It might look complicated but is in fact easy to calculate. Let's check it here.
The Net run rate is calculated by deducting the average runs per over scored against a team from the average runs an over scored by a team in a tournament.
Notably, if a team has chased a target in less than 20 overs (for say 17.5 overs), then 17.5 overs will be considered and not the actual 20. But if a team has been bowled out in less than 20 overs (for say 17.5 again) then 20 will be considered and not 17.5.
Let's take an example in the ongoing scenario in the IPL 2024.
CSK have an NRR of +0.528 and are placed on third after playing 13 games. This NRR is calculated by first adding on the runs scored by them in every match. Then dividing its total by the number of overs taken to make those runs.
CSK have made a total of 2333 runs in the tournament and have used 254.4 overs to make them. 2333 will get divided by 254.4 (actually 254.67 as four balls are 0.67 per cent of six balls) to achieve the For NRR. The For Run rate is 9.16087486 which is 9.160 (2333/254.67).
Now CSK have conceded 2197 in 254.3 overs. The Against RR is 8.63261297 which is 8.632 (2197/254.50). CSK's Net Run Rate is 0.528 which is the NRR you will find on the IPL website too. CSK have bowled out SRH for 134 in 18.5 overs. Here 20 overs were considered as SRH were allotted 20 overs to bat.
Here is CSK's run-scoring and run-conceding breakup to make you understand more if there is any doubt.
Runs scored by CSK in each match of IPL 2024
176/4 in 18.4 overs
206/6 in 20 overs
171/6 in 20 overs
165/5 in 20 overs
141/3 in 17.4 overs
206/4 in 20 overs
176/6 in 20 overs
210/4 in 20 overs
212/3 in 20 overs
162/7 in 20 overs
167/9 in 20 overs
196/8 in 20 overs
145/5 in 18.2 overs
CSK scored 2333 runs in 254.4 overs. The For RR is 9.160. Here is a break-up of how many runs CSK conceded in every game.
173/6 in 20 overs
143/8 in 20 overs
191/5 in 20 overs
166/4 in 18.1 overs
137/9 in 20 overs
186/6 in 20 overs
180/2 in 19 overs
213/4 in 19.3 overs
134/10 in 18.5 overs
163/3 in 17.5 overs
139/9 in 20 overs
231/3 in 20 overs
141/5 in 20 overs
CSK conceded 2197 runs in 253.2 overs but it is actually 254.3 overs as SRH were bowled out for 134 in 18.5 overs. Hence we added seven balls to make it 254.3 overs. Against NRR is 8.632.
CSK's total NRR is 0.528
