Net run rate: a worked example

What NRR measures

Net run rate compares how quickly a team scores with how quickly it concedes runs across the matches counted in a competition or stage. Use the combined scoring rate minus the combined conceding rate. Do not subtract total runs alone, and do not simply average the NRR figures from individual matches. A positive result means the first rate is higher. The tournament's rules decide when NRR is used to separate teams.

Start with one complete match

Imagine River XI scores 180 in 20 overs and limits Hill XI to 160 in 20 overs. Neither innings is shortened. River's scoring rate is 180 ÷ 20 = 9.00; its conceding rate is 160 ÷ 20 = 8.00. After this match alone, River's NRR is +1.000. Hill's is −1.000. These are invented teams and scores, not a result from a real competition.

Add a second match using totals

Next, River chases 151 in 18.2 overs after conceding 150 in 20. Convert 18.2 correctly: 18 overs plus two balls equals 110 balls, or 18⅓ overs. Across both matches River has scored 331 runs from 230 valid balls and conceded 310 from 240. Its combined rates are 331 × 6 ÷ 230 = 8.6348 and 310 × 6 ÷ 240 = 7.7500. Subtract them: the tournament NRR is approximately +0.885.

Keeping balls as whole numbers avoids treating the scoreboard dot as a decimal point. Keep the full calculation until the end, then round for display. Adding or averaging the two separate match NRRs would produce a different answer because the innings lengths differ.

Check whether an innings was all out

Under the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 conditions, an innings that ends all out early uses its full allotted overs for NRR. Thus 95 all out in 14.2 overs of an uninterrupted 20-over match contributes 95 runs from 20 overs: a rate of 4.75. Do not use the early finishing time as the denominator. This is why a ball-count worksheet needs a separate NRR overs column when an innings ends all out.

Know when the simple worksheet is insufficient

The same event rules exclude Super Overs and matches without a result from NRR. Rain-affected results using DLS require specified adjustments rather than a straightforward copy of both scorecard totals. Check that competition's published conditions and official table before drawing a qualification conclusion. For an ordinary completed match, record runs scored, NRR overs faced, runs conceded and NRR overs bowled; add each column before calculating the two rates.