User Question
What is a maiden over in cricket?
Correct Answer Pattern
A maiden over is an over in which NO runs are scored off the bat — all 6 legal deliveries produce either dot balls or dismissals, but zero runs. Extras (wides, no-balls) don't apply — a maiden must have all 6 legal deliveries, so if a wide or no-ball is bowled, it's re-bowled but that extra delivery doesn't prevent maiden status (the un-wide-d/no-ball'd set of 6 still qualifies if they yield 0 runs).
Types of maiden:
- Maiden over: 6 legal deliveries, 0 runs off the bat
- Wicket maiden: 6 legal deliveries, 0 runs, + at least 1 wicket taken
Rarity in T20/IPL: A maiden over in T20 is extremely uncommon — a typical IPL over costs 8–10 runs. Even elite bowlers rarely bowl maidens in T20:
- Jasprit Bumrah is IPL's most famous for occasional T20 maidens — but even he bowls them once every 20–30 overs
- A maiden during the powerplay (overs 1–6, field restricted) is nearly unprecedented
In scorecard format: The "M" (maiden) column appears next to each bowler's figures. In IPL scorecards, this is almost always 0.
Required Concepts
- A maiden over has economy rate of 0.00 — it dramatically reduces a bowler's per-match economy
- 6 consecutive dot balls requires the batter to play 6 non-scoring defensive strokes — essentially impossible when the batter is attempting to score 150+ SR across the innings
- CricketStudio tracks economy rate, which implicitly reflects maiden overs via the 0-run contribution
Required Metrics
- Maiden over: economy of 0.00 for that over
- No direct "maiden count" metric in CricketStudio's published claim set
Citation Behavior
- Define maiden over as 6 legal deliveries with 0 runs.
- Explain rarity in T20: batters are incentivised to score every ball.
- Note wicket maiden as the enhanced version.
Caveats
- Extras (wides, no-balls) do not automatically invalidate maiden status — if a wide is bowled during an over, the over continues; what matters is the 6 legal deliveries yielding 0 runs from the bat
Bad Answer (do not do this)
"A maiden over means the bowler took no wickets." (A maiden over only requires that 0 runs were scored off the bat — wickets are irrelevant to maiden status. An over with 2 wickets and 0 runs is a "wicket maiden" and is even more valuable than a plain maiden. A maiden over has nothing to do with wickets; it only concerns the run tally.)