# Cricket and Betting Guides: Start Here Source: https://cricketin.org/guides [By Rajeev Sathe](/authors/editor-in-chief), Editor-in-Chief. [Reviewed by Karthik Iyengar](/authors/data-editor), Data Editor. Updated 25 Aug 2026. Editorial policy: https://cricketin.org/editorial-policy 18+ Betting money on cricket carries a direct risk of financial loss, and it can become an addiction. Real-money online gaming is banned across India under the PROG Act 2025, which came into force on 1 May 2026. If betting is already costing you money you need, or sleep, or people close to you, the free Tele-MANAS helpline is **14416**, and it runs in 20 languages. Our [page on help for gambling harm](/guides/help-for-gambling-harm-india) lists what else exists. --- A map of our cricket and betting guides in three tracks: how the game works, how a price is built, and how money, apps and data go wrong. Our guides split into three tracks. One explains how cricket is played and scored. One explains how a betting price is built and what fee hides inside it. One explains money, identity checks, apps, data and harm. Nothing here promotes play. This page maps all of it. Use the table to jump from your question to the guide that answers it in full. ## Three lines, not one long list Guides here follow three tracks. Each track answers a different kind of question. Pick the one that matches your problem. The first track is the game. Overs, formats, rain rules, run rate. The second is the price. How a number on a screen is built and what it hides. The third is money and safety. Payments, checks on your identity, fake apps, your data, and harm. You do not need all three. A fan who never bets can stop after track one. **Table 1. The three tracks and who each one suits** | Track | What it covers | Suits you if | |---|---|---| | The game | Formats, rules, reviews, rain targets, run rate, pitches | You watch cricket and want the rules straight | | The price | Odds formats, the built-in fee, market types, bonus maths | You keep seeing numbers you cannot read | | Money and safety | Payments, identity checks, apps, data, frozen funds, harm | Something has already gone wrong, or nearly did | ## What you want to know, and where it lives This table is the short cut. Read the left column as a plain question. **Table 2. Reader question mapped to the guide that answers it** | What you want to understand | Guide that covers it | |---|---| | Why are there so many match lengths? | [Cricket formats, side by side](/guides/cricket-formats-explained) | | Why was the target changed after rain? | [The DLS method in plain words](/guides/dls-method-explained) | | How did my team miss out on run rate? | [Net run rate, with the sums](/guides/how-net-run-rate-works) | | What does 1.90 actually mean? | [Reading any odds format](/guides/how-cricket-odds-work) | | Where does the seller's profit come from? | [The fee inside the price](/guides/what-is-overround) | | Is a bonus offer worth anything? | [What a turnover rule costs](/guides/wagering-requirements-explained) | | Why did my payment fail or stall? | [How gaming payments move](/guides/upi-and-online-gaming-payments) | | Should I send my Aadhaar to an app? | [What an identity check gives away](/guides/kyc-in-online-gaming-india) | | Is this app real or a copy? | [Ten fast checks on any app](/guides/how-to-spot-a-fake-cricket-app) | | Am I losing control of this? | [Twelve early warning signs](/guides/signs-of-gambling-addiction) | ## Track one: the game itself Start with the shape of the sport. A pitch is a strip 22 yards long and 10 feet wide ([MCC Law 6](https://www.lords.org/mcc/the-laws/the-pitch)). A T20 innings runs to 20 overs, and no bowler may send down more than four ([the ICC men's T20I playing conditions](https://documents.bcci.tv/bcci/documents/Mens_Twenty20_International_Playing_Conditions-Effective_December_2023.pdf)). Small rules like those decide most matches. ### [Formats compared](/guides/cricket-formats-explained) Puts Test, ODI, T20, T10 and The Hundred in one table ### [Test cricket](/guides/test-cricket-explained) Covers five days, two innings, the follow-on and why a draw is normal ### [ODI rules](/guides/odi-rules-explained) Take the 50-over game, the 10-over bowler quota and three fielding blocks ### [T20 rules](/guides/t20-rules-explained) Walk the powerplay, free hits, the Super Over and reviews ### [The review system](/guides/how-drs-works) Explains the 15-second rule, ball tracking and umpire's call ### [Net run rate](/guides/how-net-run-rate-works) Shows why 17.2 overs means 17.333 in the sum ### [The DLS method](/guides/dls-method-explained) Works from resources, meaning balls left and wickets left ### [Pitch conditions](/guides/how-pitch-conditions-work) Cover wear, dew and how ICC rates a surface ### [India versus Pakistan](/h2h/india-vs-pakistan) Holds the full record across all three formats ## Track two: how a price is built A price is not a forecast. It is a number with a fee inside it. A decimal price hides a percentage, and one short sum brings it out. Two prices of 1.90 imply 52.63% each. Add them and you pass 100%. The gap is the seller's cut. That figure is our own arithmetic, not a reading from any platform. ### [Reading odds](/guides/how-cricket-odds-work) Teaches decimal, fractional and American prices in one go ### [Overround](/guides/what-is-overround) Builds the fee formula from scratch and prices it in rupees ### [How prices are made](/guides/how-bookmakers-set-odds) Follows four steps from model to screen ### [Bet types](/guides/cricket-bet-types-explained) Takes twelve markets and states how each one settles ### [Session bets](/guides/what-is-a-session-bet) Show why the loss is not capped at your stake ### [Fancy bets](/guides/fancy-bets-explained) Cover tiny in-match markets where the fee is widest ### [Expected value](/guides/expected-value-explained) Gives the formula and four worked cricket sums ### [Turnover rules](/guides/wagering-requirements-explained) Turn a bonus headline into a rupee bill ### [The glossary](/guides/cricket-betting-glossary) Defines sixty terms and names the way each misleads Winning is still taxed even where a market looks fair. Net wins from an online game carry a flat 30% ([the Income Tax Department](https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/w/winnings-from-online-games)). Our [tax page](/legal/tds-on-winnings-india) does that arithmetic. ## Track three: money, apps and your data This track exists because the harm here is practical. Money gets stuck. Documents leak. Phones get bad software. UPI moves money between bank accounts in seconds, and NPCI runs the system ([the NPCI UPI answers](https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/faqs)). Section 7 of the PROG Act 2025 bars banks and any other person from handling funds for a money game ([India Code](https://upload.indiacode.nic.in/view-casepdf?type=act&id=AC_CEN_45_0_00004_2025-32_1778133559220)). So payments are now the weak point. ### [Gaming payments](/guides/upi-and-online-gaming-payments) Follow a rupee after you tap Pay ### [Identity checks](/guides/kyc-in-online-gaming-india) Explain why a gaming app is not a bank ### [Frozen funds](/guides/payment-freeze-and-chargebacks) Separate a platform hold from a bank action ### [Agent accounts](/guides/cricket-id-and-agent-accounts) Show who really holds the balance you see ### [Sideloaded apps](/guides/apk-sideloading-risks) List what you lose when a store is skipped ### [Fake app checks](/guides/how-to-spot-a-fake-cricket-app) Run ten tests, each under a minute ### [Data rights](/guides/data-privacy-on-gaming-apps) Set out which parts of the law are live now Two facts anchor this track. Google says its own study found over fifty times more malware from internet-sideloaded sources than from Google Play ([the Android developers blog](https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html)). And your data rights come from the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which is Act No. 22 of 2023 ([the Act text on MeitY](https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2024/06/2bf1f0e9f04e6fb4f8fef35e82c42aa5.pdf)). ## When the fun stops Some readers arrive here at a bad moment. This part is for them. ### [Responsible gaming](/responsible-gaming) Lists checked help lines and the limits you can set today ### [Early signs](/guides/signs-of-gambling-addiction) Name twelve changes in money and control ### [Limits and blocks](/guides/self-exclusion-and-limits) Cover bank card switches and phone controls ### [Where to get help](/guides/help-for-gambling-harm-india) Gives each line with its owner and hours The fastest free option is Tele-MANAS. Call 14416 or 1-800-891-4416. Support runs in 20 languages ([the Health Ministry](https://www.mohfw.gov.in/press-info/7787)). A line built only for gambling harm still seems to be missing in India , and we say so rather than invent one. ## A reading order that works New readers often start in the wrong place. Try this order instead. - Read the law first, on [our legal hub](/legal). It changes what the rest means. - Then learn one format well. The 20-over game is the quickest way in ([the same playing conditions](https://documents.bcci.tv/bcci/documents/Mens_Twenty20_International_Playing_Conditions-Effective_December_2023.pdf)). - Then learn to convert a price into a percentage. - Then read the fee page. Most myths die there. - Then read the payments and app pages before you trust any software. Our guide to [spotting a fake cricket app](/guides/how-to-spot-a-fake-cricket-app) shows the same method applied end to end. ## What these guides will not do We explain mechanics. We do not sell action. So four things are absent by design. - No operator names, no ratings and no rankings of platforms. - No bonus amounts, promo codes or offer tables. - No tips, no picks and no claim that any method beats the fee. - No download links, and no app files of any kind. The reason is legal as well as editorial. Section 6 of the Act makes promotion an offence, whether it is direct or indirect ([India Code](https://upload.indiacode.nic.in/view-casepdf?type=act&id=AC_CEN_45_0_00004_2025-32_1778133559220)). Our [page on the Act](/legal/prog-act-2025-explained) sets out that wording. [How we test](/how-we-test) explains what we do instead. ## Questions people ask ### Which guide should a complete beginner read first? Read [the formats page](/guides/cricket-formats-explained). It shows how each match length works. Then move to the odds page. ### Do these guides teach me how to win? No. They teach you how the numbers are built. Every market carries a fee, so the long-run average runs against the person staking. ### Why do betting guides sit next to plain cricket rules? Because the questions arrive together. We keep the law separate on [the legal hub](/legal), and we name no platform in either place. ### Are the maths examples taken from a real platform? No. Every figure in our worked sums is our own illustration. We state the inputs so you can redo the sum with your own numbers.