How many ways can a batsman lose his wicket?

If someone asks you the ways by which a batsman can get out, then 4-5 names will come in your mind like Bowled, Catch out, LBW, Runout, Stumping, etc. But what if I tell you that there are 10 ways to dismiss a batsman!

 You may have been surprised after reading this if you watch cricket often. In this post, I will try to explain each and every way in detail with the help of Pictures and Videos when needed. This post will be a bit longer but I'm sure that you will know each and every way of dismissal very well after reading this.

So here we go...

1) Bowled:

• A batsman is declared out bowled if delivery bowled by bowler hits stumps/bails behind him and at least one bail is dislodged off the wicket.

• But the batsman won't be given out if,

•  The ball is not legitimate, like a "No ball".
• If the ball is touched by the umpire or wicketkeeper before the ball hits stumps.
• If both bails remain on the top of stumps despite the ball hitting the wicket (Shown in below video). However, the batsman may be given out if the stump is struck off the ground and somehow bails remain on the top.

• Bowler gets the credit of wicket in this case.

2) Catch out:

• A batsman is declared out caught if ball delivered by a bowler, not being a no ball, touches his bat without having previously been in contact with any fielder or umpire and is subsequently caught by a fielder/bowler/wicket-keeper as a fair catch before it touches the ground.

• For a catch to be fair,

      -  Any fielder in contact with the ball should be within the field. In simple words, a player can't catch the ball staying outside the boundary and if he does so, it will be declared "six".

      -  While catching the ball, the ball must not touch the ground

• Bowler gets the credit of the wicket.

3) Leg Before Wicket (LBW) :

• A batsman can be given out LBW if the ball hits his/her body or any sports equipment other than bat or gloves and the ball was assumed to hit stumps.

• For the batsman to be out,

      -  The pitching of ball should be outside the off -stump and by considering its bounce, spin or swing, it should have gone hit the stumps if it were not intercepted.

      

• The batsman can't be given out if:

      -  The ball hits his bat or gloves before touching his body.

      -  The bowler delivers No ball.

      -  The ball is pitched outside leg-stump.

• This picture sums it up well.

• The bowler gets the credit for this dismissal.

4) Stumped :

• A  batsman is given out this way if he is out of the crease or leaves no part of his bat or body behind the crease and wicket-keeper dislodges the bails(Shown in picture).

• If wicket-keeper dislodges bails before the ball reaches him/her, batsman will not be given out.

• Bowler gets the credit for the wicket. Interestingly, a bowler can get this wicket even in "WIDE BALL" but he can't get wicket this way if he delivers "No Ball".

5) Run out : 

• If the fielder dislodges the bails before either of the batsman fails to reach to their respective creases, the batsman is given run out.

• For the batsman to be run out, it is mandatory for a fielder/bowler to touch the ball before it hits the stump.

      -  For example, if a batsman hits the ball and it hits the stump at non-striker end while the non-striker batsman is out of the crease, batsman (non-striker in this case) will be given out only if the bowler has touched the ball.

• The bowler does not get the credit for the wicket in run out. A batsman can get out this way even in No ball or Wide ball.

6) Hit Wicket :

• A batsman is given out Hit wicket if after the bowler has bowled, the wicket is put down either by his bat or any of his body parts.

• See this video:

• The batsman can not get out this way is delivery is not legitimate.

• Bowler gets the credit for the wicket.

7) Obstructing the field :

• A batsman can get out this way if :

      -  He willfully obstructs the play by his words/actions.

      - He knowingly runs in such a way that it prevents the ball from hitting the stump.

      - This is shown in the video below.

• After the modification of laws of cricket in 2017, all the offense under the "Handling of the ball" fell under this law.

      - Before that, "Handling the ball" was a separate way by which a batsman could get out.

      - In that, if a batsman touched the ball with the hand, not in contact with the bat for any purpose other than to protect himself or to return the ball to bowler/fielder, he was given out.

• Bowler does not get the credit for this type of dismissal.

8) Time out :

• It is one of the rarest modes of dismissal.

• According to this rule, if a batsman fails to arrive at the crease within a certain time limit, he is declared out if the opposite team appeals to the umpire.

      -  The time limit is 3 minutes for ODIs and Tests and 2 minutes for T20Is.

• A batsman may also be given out if he doesn't resume his play after the break.

• Bowler doesn't get the credit for this dismissal.

9) Hitting the ball twice :

• If batsman willfully strikes the ball twice before the ball has touched the fielder, he is given out.

• This is explained in the video below:

• Bowler does not get the credit.

10) Retired out : 

• A batsman is considered retired out if he leaves the field without the permission of the umpire apart from injury and fails to resume his inning.

• He can resume his inning only with consent from fielding team skipper.

• Only two batsmen have got out this way in an international Test match and they are Mahela Jaywardane and Marvan Atapattu. Interestingly, they both got out in the same inning against Bangladesh in 2001.

• There is a difference between Retired Hurt and Retired out:

• If a batsman has to leave the ground due to injury or other unavoidable reasons, he may retire and resume his inning later.

• An exception to this rule was made for Gordon Greenidge who retired from the fifth Test of the 1982-83 India-West Indies series to visit his dying daughter. His total of 154 is officially recorded as "Retired not out" as a mark of respect.

• Bowler does not get credit for this dismissal.

I hope you learned something from this post!

Thanks for reading.