Net Run Rate, Explained With Real Numbers
The tie-breaker that decides playoff places, worked through step by step, including the rule on being bowled out.
When two IPL teams finish the league stage on the same number of points, the main thing that separates them is net run rate, usually shortened to NRR. It can decide who makes the playoffs, and who finishes in the all-important top two.
The formula
Net run rate is how fast a team scores, minus how fast it concedes:
NRR = (runs scored ÷ overs faced) − (runs conceded ÷ overs bowled)
A positive NRR means a team scores faster than its opponents. A negative one means it concedes faster than it scores.
One detail matters for the arithmetic. Overs are made of six balls, so 19.3 overs (19 overs and 3 balls) is 19.5 overs in the calculation, not 19.3. Our NRR calculator does this conversion for you.
A single match
Say a team scores 180 in its 20 overs and then restricts the opponents to 170 in their 20 overs.
- Scoring rate: 180 ÷ 20 = 9.00 runs per over
- Conceding rate: 170 ÷ 20 = 8.50 runs per over
- NRR for the match: 9.00 − 8.50 = +0.500
The bowled-out rule
This is the rule that catches people out. If a team is bowled out, it is treated as having faced its full quota of overs, usually 20, however quickly it lost its wickets.
Imagine a team is bowled out for 150 in 18.2 overs. Its scoring rate is not 150 ÷ 18.33 = 8.18. It is 150 ÷ 20 = 7.50. Losing all ten wickets costs you in the table as well as on the scorecard.
The same applies the other way. Bowl the opposition out and your bowlers are credited with a full 20 overs, which pulls down the rate you conceded.
When a chasing team wins, only the overs it actually used count. That is why winning a chase quickly gives such a boost.
Over a whole season
A team's NRR in the table is not an average of its match-by-match figures. All the runs and overs across the league stage are added up first, and the formula is applied once to the totals.
| Match | Batting | Bowling |
|---|---|---|
| Match 1 | 180 in 20 overs | 170 in 20 overs |
| Match 2 | 150 all out in 18.2 overs (counts as 20) | 151 for 4 in 17.4 overs |
| Total | 330 in 40 overs | 321 in 37.67 overs |
Scoring rate: 330 ÷ 40 = 8.250. Conceding rate: 321 ÷ 37.67 = 8.522. Season NRR: −0.272. The team won one match and lost one, but its NRR is negative, because the defeat was heavier than the win.
When it really mattered
On the last weekend of the 2024 league stage, Royal Challengers Bengaluru played Chennai Super Kings in Bengaluru with a playoff place at stake. Simply winning was not enough: RCB had to win by at least 18 runs (or chase down the target with enough overs to spare) to finish above Chennai on net run rate.
They made 218 for 5 and won by 27 runs, taking fourth place and sending Chennai home. The two teams finished on the same points. Net run rate did the rest.
Stats in this article are correct to the end of the 2025 IPL season.
