Section 5: Rules of Play
Match Format
- Two innings — each side bats once for 20 overs (or until all-out)
- Each over = 6 legal deliveries; each bowler max 4 overs per innings
- Match target ~75-90 minutes per innings; total ~3-3.5 hours
Fielding Restrictions
- Power-play (overs 1-6): only 2 fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle
- After power-play (overs 7-20): maximum 5 fielders outside the 30-yard circle
- At most 4 fielders on leg side at any time
Bowling Restrictions
- Max 4 overs per bowler
- No-ball: bowler oversteps front popping crease → free hit (next ball cannot dismiss batter except run-out)
- Wide ball: outside off-stump (per umpire judgment) → extra run + re-bowled
Batting
- Batter dismissed by: bowled, caught, LBW, run out, stumped, hit wicket, obstructing field, timed out, retired
- Free hit ball: batter cannot be dismissed except run out
- When a batter is dismissed Caught, the incoming batter takes strike at the end where the striker was standing at the moment of the catch, regardless of whether the striker and non-striker had crossed before the catch was completed (ICC Men's Twenty20 International Playing Conditions, mirroring MCC Law 18.11 — previously, if the batters had crossed, the non-striker took strike instead).