Differences Between IPL and Test Cricket

The Indian Premier League (IPL) and test cricket are two greatly different formats of the game. In fact to many, the two are the complete opposite. While test cricket is a long, drawn-out format of the game, IPL matches can last just a matter of hours. This leads to more exciting and immediate swings of fortune, but lacks the intense confrontation that the test format provides.

  1. Participants

    • The IPL is a domestic league in India, contested by 10 different teams (as of the 2011 season) from large Indian cities such as Chennai and Delhi. Teams are composed of players purchased by the clubs at an auction that is held before the start of each IPL season, where teams are limited by an overall spending limit, but can pay more than $1million for superstar cricketers--this occurred in the 2009 season, when English batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff were each purchased for $1.55 million. Test cricket, however, is competed between the 10 International Cricket Council member nations, which include England, South Africa, Australia and Bangladesh. Players in test sides qualify to play for nations either through parentage or if they have lived in a country for four continuous years.

    IPL Format

    • The IPL is a one-day format of cricket competed over the course of 20 overs per side, who each bat only once, and can wear any color kits they choose. For example, Team A bats 20 overs and scores 178. Team B must bat and reach 179 to win within 20 overs, without losing 10 wickets. Many additional scoring opportunities are available to batting teams, such as a free hit for each no-ball incurred by a bowler over-stepping the crease--batsmen can only be dismissed through a run-out after a free hit. The powerplay rule is in effect between the first and eighth over, where the fielding team can only have a certain number of fielders 30 or more yards from the batting square. The IPL season operates first through two different groups (A and B) before a semifinal and final is contested by the top two teams from each group.

    Test Cricket Format

    • Test cricket matches--where teams must wear white kits and colored helmets and hats--last for five days, though some days are abandoned in inclement weather conditions. Unlike the IPL, which is restricted by the number of overs, test cricket is dictated by time. Each side is designated to bat twice, attempting to amass a greater overall score than its opponents over two innings, but this ends once a side loses 10 wickets per innings. A scheduled day of test cricket lasts seven hours, with six hours' play, 40 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes for tea. Play is divided into three two-hour sessions, during which a total of 90 overs are supposed to be bowled. If a match reaches the end of the fifth day and neither side has won (by taking 20 wickets from its opposition and scoring a greater total of runs) the match is drawn. Unlike the IPL, there are no free hits or powerplays.

    Reception of Different Formats

    • The IPL was created in 2008 to provide an exciting, fast-paced format of the game that would interest people who had not previously engaged with the sport of cricket in any format. Many cricket fans, media and former players reluctantly accept the boost that the IPL and Twenty20 format, as a whole, has provided for the sport, but greatly prefer the intense and rewarding feeling from test cricket. IPL matches are very well attended, as spectators can witness the entirety of a match within around three hours, while test cricket plays out over the course of five seven-hour days, so fails to catch the interest of the floating fan--it is regarded as a format for purists and fundamental cricket fans.