Gully Cricket Rules: How to Play Street Cricket

Gully cricket — played in streets, courtyards, parking lots and open fields across India — has its own set of rules distinct from formal leather-ball cricket. The rules are informal and agreed before play, but most games share a core set of conventions that every street cricketer knows. This guide covers the common rules, how to set up a match and what equipment you need.

What is Gully Cricket?

Gully cricket is an informal version of cricket played in a confined space — typically a street, gully (lane), schoolyard or colony ground — using a tennis ball or a rubber ball rather than a leather ball. Teams range from three players a side up to eleven, and the playing area is adapted to whatever space is available. Because there are no official rules governing gully cricket, players negotiate the rules before each match, though most follow broadly similar conventions built up over decades of street play across India.

Common Gully Cricket Rules

While every game is slightly different, these are the rules you will encounter in almost every gully cricket match in India:

One-Tip-One-Hand (OTOH)

A catch taken off one bounce — where the fielder takes the ball after it has touched the ground once — counts as out, provided the fielder uses only one hand. This is usually called one-tip-one-hand or simply tip-catch. It opens up more dismissal opportunities in a confined area where the ball rarely carries to a fielder on the full. Some matches allow tip catches with two hands; agree before play.

Out of the Area

Hitting the ball out of the designated playing area — over a wall, into a garden, onto a roof, or beyond an agreed boundary line — is out. This rule prevents big-hitting batters from dominating in a small space and also protects windows and vehicles. The precise boundary should be agreed and clearly communicated to all players before the game starts.

Last-Man-Bats

When only one batter remains, they continue batting alone using a runner, or with a designated last-man partner who does not bat themselves. The last-man-bats rule keeps the game going rather than ending it when one team runs out of batting partners. The score of the previous batter usually carries over for the last pair.

No LBW

LBW (leg before wicket) dismissals are almost universally excluded in gully cricket. In a street game there is no umpire to adjudicate, the stumps are often improvised, and disputes would slow the game too much. If you want to understand the formal LBW rule, see the FAQ below.

Pitch, Overs and Boundaries

There are no fixed dimensions in gully cricket — everything is adapted to the available space:

• Pitch length: Typically 10–18 yards depending on the space, compared to the standard 22 yards. A shorter pitch suits a tennis ball and rewards batters who can time the ball.
• Overs: Most gully games are played over 5–10 overs per side, or until everyone has batted once. Agree the format before tossing.
• Boundaries: Mark boundaries clearly before play — chalk lines, bags, or natural features like walls and drains. Decide in advance whether hitting beyond the boundary is four, six, or out.
• Toss: Use a coin or bat-spin (tap the bat handle on the ground and let it fall — the side the bat face points towards wins).

Equipment

Gully cricket needs minimal equipment:

• Ball: A tennis ball is the standard choice — safer, lighter and easier to control in a small space. Tape-ball cricket wraps electrical tape around a tennis ball to add weight and swing. Rubber balls are common for very young players.
• Bat: Any cricket bat works, though a smaller, lighter bat is easier to handle in a narrow space. Tape-ball cricket typically uses a light bat to match the lighter ball.
• Stumps: Improvised stumps are the norm — chalk marks on a wall, a plastic stool, a stack of bricks, or a proper set of plastic stumps if available. Mark the crease clearly so runout and stumping decisions are straightforward.

Once your game outgrows the street and you want to play proper registered matches, find players via the Aaj Ka Khel Player Market or form a team and track your stats on the cricket rankings leaderboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the rules of gully cricket?

Gully cricket rules are informal and agreed before play. Common ones include one-tip-one-hand catches count as out, hitting the ball out of the area is out, last-man-bats with a runner, and no LBW. Players set the pitch size, over count and boundaries based on the available street or ground.

What is the LBW rule in cricket?

The LBW (leg before wicket) rule means a batter is out if the ball would have hit the stumps but strikes their leg or body first, provided it pitches in line or outside off stump and the batter is not playing a genuine shot at a ball outside off.

What are the types of bowling in cricket?

The main types of bowling in cricket are pace (fast and medium, using seam and swing) and spin (off-spin, leg-spin and left-arm orthodox or wrist spin). Pace bowlers rely on speed and movement off the pitch, while spinners use flight, turn and deception to beat the batter.

What is a powerplay in cricket?

A powerplay in cricket is a block of early overs with fielding restrictions limiting how many fielders stand outside the inner circle, which encourages aggressive batting. In T20 the powerplay is the first six overs; in ODIs there are mandatory and bowling powerplay phases across the innings.

What is the length of a cricket pitch?

The length of a cricket pitch is 22 yards (20.12 metres) between the two sets of stumps, with the playing strip measuring 22 yards long and 10 feet (3.05 metres) wide. This standard applies to professional and most amateur leather-ball cricket worldwide.