How to Chase a Target in Cricket: A Per-Ball Plan for 5, 10 and 20 Over Chases

Most advice on how to chase a target in cricket is written for 50-over or 20-over matches and stops at "keep wickets in hand, then accelerate." That is true, but it is not a plan. This guide turns a target into a ball-by-ball budget, shows how the plan changes in 5, 10 and 20 over chases, and gives you a short checklist you can run in your head between deliveries.

How to chase a target in cricket: the short answer

To chase a target in cricket, divide the runs you need by the balls you have left, so you always know your required rate per ball rather than per over. Protect wickets early, score most of your runs in ones and twos, and save your big risks for the overs where a wicket costs you the least. Recalculate after every ball, not every over.

Why the per-ball number beats the per-over number

Commentators quote the required run rate per over because it fits on a scoreboard. When you are the one batting, per-over thinking hides the real situation. "Nine an over" sounds scary. "One and a half a ball" tells you that a single plus a two every two balls gets you there, and that a dot ball is not a disaster as long as the next ball is worth three.

Here is the simple method:

Work out runs needed and balls remaining.
Divide runs by balls. That is your required rate per ball.
After each delivery, redo the sum. A four drops the number sharply; a dot pushes it up only a little early on and a lot late on.
Compare the number to what you can score without taking a big risk. If safe cricket covers it, do not swing.

A worked example. You need 60 off 30 balls. That is 2 a ball. Score 8 off the first six balls and you now need 52 off 24, which is about 2.2 a ball. The rate went up, but only slightly, and you have not lost a wicket. Panic starts when people see "52 needed" and forget the "24 balls" part.

Wickets are a resource, and their value changes

Every chase is a trade between runs and wickets. Early in an innings a wicket is expensive, because it exposes a new batter to a new ball and costs you the time an established batter would have spent scoring. Late in an innings a wicket is cheap, because there are few balls left for anyone to use.

ESPNcricinfo's analysis of IPL chases found the pattern you would expect: sides that won lost fewer wickets in the powerplay and kept roughly one more wicket in hand through the middle overs than sides that lost. They did not score dramatically faster early on. They simply stayed in the game long enough to cash in at the end.

The practical rule:

First third of the chase: take singles, punish only the bad balls, accept dot balls.
Middle third: keep the required rate from climbing. Rotate strike and hit one boundary an over if the bowling offers it.
Final third: wickets matter less every ball. This is where you take on the big shots.

How the plan changes by format

Short chases break the standard advice, and this is the part most guides skip.

20-over chase

This is the classic template. You have 120 balls, so a slow start can be repaired. Treat the first six overs as a chance to set a platform without losing more than one wicket, keep pace through the middle, and accelerate in the last five or six overs. A required rate of 1.5 a ball with wickets in hand at the 15-over mark is a strong position, not a crisis.

10-over chase

You have 60 balls, which means there is no real "middle" phase. The first two overs still reward caution, but by the fourth over you should be scoring at or above the required rate. Every dot ball here is worth roughly twice what it would be in a 20-over game, because there are half as many balls left to make it up.

5-over chase

With 30 balls, the phases collapse into one. You cannot afford a sighter over. Two dot balls in a row is a warning sign, and a maiden is usually fatal. The best approach is to decide before the first ball what a "hittable" delivery looks like, such as anything short, anything full and wide, anything on your legs, and commit to hitting it hard. Leave or defend everything else, but try to turn even defended balls into a single.

Reading the bowler during a chase

The bowler knows the equation too. When the required rate climbs, expect them to bowl wider, fuller and slower, because they want you to reach for the ball and mistime it. A few habits help:

Watch the length first. If the bowler keeps pitching up, a yorker or a full ball outside off is their plan, and you should look to guide it for one rather than slog it. Our guide on how to read a bowler's length goes deeper on this.
Do not chase the wide one. A ball far outside off stump is often bait. If it is called a wide, that is a free run and a free ball.
Target the bowler's pattern, not their best ball. If a bowler has gone full three balls in a row, the fourth is more likely to be short. Be ready for it.

A between-balls checklist

Run through this after every delivery. It takes a couple of seconds and it stops the scoreboard from making decisions for you.

How many runs, how many balls?
What is the rate per ball now, and did it go up or down?
How many wickets do I have, and how much is one worth at this stage?
What did the bowler just try, and what are they likely to try next?
Which ball will I attack, and which will I just rotate?

Common chasing mistakes

Trying to win it in one over. A 20-run over is lovely, but a wicket in a failed attempt often costs more than the runs you were chasing.
Ignoring the non-striker. Singles that give strike to a set partner are worth more than they look.
Forgetting the target shrinks. Batters often keep swinging after the required rate has fallen to something safe. When the equation is easy, go back to low-risk cricket.
Treating every format the same. A 5-over chase punishes caution; a 20-over chase punishes early recklessness.

Practise the pressure, not just the shots

Knowing how to chase a target in cricket is one thing. Staying calm when a real bowler is changing their plan against you is another. The quickest way to build that feel is to bat against a person who is trying to beat you, over short formats where every ball counts.

That is what HowzatLive is built for. It is a free, browser-based 3D cricket game where two real people play a live 1v1 match: one bats, one bowls, and you can pick 5, 10 or 20 overs, day or night conditions, and chat during the match. There is no download and no install. Start a quick match or send a private link to a friend. After five rated matches you earn a Scale badge from 0 to 10, and beating stronger opponents moves you up faster. If you want to warm up first, the Gully, Club and Academy bots are there too, though bot results count at half weight and cannot take you above Scale 3.

When you are ready, create a free account and check where you stand on the leaderboard. For more guides like this one, browse the blog.