How to follow a T20 chase ball by ball
Turn the target, legal balls remaining and recent deliveries into a clear reading of a run chase, with a worked 20-over example.
Christian Baldwin · Updated 2026-10-05 · 4 minute read
A run chase is easier to follow when you keep three numbers together: the target, runs still needed and legal balls left. The required run rate is a way to express those last two numbers per six-ball over. It is useful, but it does not tell you whether a side will win. The figures below are an illustrative example, not a real scorecard.
Start with the target, not the first-innings total
If one side scores 180, the chasing side needs 181 to win outright. At 124/3 after 15 overs, it needs 57 from 30 legal balls. The required rate is 57 ÷ 30 × 6 = 11.40 runs per over. The current rate is 124 ÷ 15 = 8.27. The gap tells you that the chase must accelerate; it does not describe the quality of the bowling or the likelihood of a comeback.
If the score reaches 136/4 after 15.4 overs, read 15.4 as 15 completed overs and four legal balls, not 15.4 decimal overs. That is 94 legal balls used in a 120-ball innings, leaving 26. The side now needs 45 from 26, or 45 ÷ 26 × 6 = 10.38 per over. The required rate fell even though a wicket was lost, because the batters scored twelve runs in those four legal balls. The wicket still matters: the next batter may need time to settle, and fewer wickets remain.
- Target: 181
- Current score: 136/4 after 15.4 overs
- Equation: 45 runs from 26 legal balls
- Required rate: 10.38 runs per six-ball over
Use our required run rate calculator to check the arithmetic. The scorecard guide explains innings totals and the over display in more detail.
Read each delivery against the equation
A dot ball uses a legal delivery without adding a run. In the 136/4 example, two dots leave 45 required from 24 balls, so the rate rises to 11.25. A boundary changes the runs required more sharply, but one six is not a trend by itself. Look at the whole over: how many runs arrived, how many legal balls were used, and whether a wicket fell.
Wides and no-balls can add runs without using one of the over's six valid balls. If the batting side receives a one-run wide at 136/4 with 26 legal balls left, the team total becomes 137 and the equation becomes 44 from 26. The ball display does not advance for that wide. The MCC Laws of Cricket, 2026 edition set out the validity of balls in Law 17 and the treatment of wides and no-balls in Laws 21 and 22. Competition playing conditions can add rules, so the official score remains the authority for a particular match.
Use the scorecard to explain, not just retell
When the equation improves, check who scored the runs. A partnership can move the chase through singles and twos even without a string of boundaries. When it deteriorates, separate slow scoring from lost wickets: the remedy is different. Batting rows show balls faced and strike rate; bowling figures show who conceded runs and took credited wickets. A run-out changes the wickets column without becoming a bowler's wicket.
The ball-by-ball match view lets you inspect the order of events. On a live match, the Gamecast shows the latest recorded delivery, the current score and the chase equation together. If updates are delayed, treat that display as the last known state. It is not a prediction or a video reconstruction of the delivery.
Know when the original equation no longer applies
A shortened match can receive a revised target under its competition's playing conditions. Do not keep calculating against 181 if the official target has changed. Likewise, an innings can end early through a result, all-out dismissal or another official decision. Check the match status and result before using a remaining-ball calculation. CricChase shows the numbers its sources provide; data coverage explains why a delivery or score may be missing or corrected later.