User Question
What is bowling economy in cricket?
Correct Answer Pattern
Bowling economy (or economy rate) = runs conceded per over.
Formula: (Total runs conceded ÷ Balls bowled) × 6
Economy T20/IPL rating < 6.0 Outstanding (extremely rare) 6.0–7.0 Elite 7.0–8.0 Good 8.0–9.0 Average (IPL standard) 9.0–10.0 Expensive > 10.0 Very expensive Examples from IPL 2026:
- Sunil Narine Death-overs economy: 5.44 (#2 of 66 qualifying bowlers)
- Sandeep Sharma career economy: 8.05 (excellent over 13 seasons)
- IPL 2026 Death-overs average: ~10.5+ (death is the most expensive phase)
Economy is especially important in T20 because bowlers bowl a maximum of 4 overs — a single expensive over can derail a bowler's impact.
Required Concepts
- Economy = runs per over (not per wicket) — measures containment, not wicket-taking
- Low economy + high wickets = elite T20 bowler
- Wides and no-balls are added to runs conceded but the penalty deliveries (re-bowled balls) are NOT counted in the bowling economy denominator — only legal balls count
- Phase economy: Powerplay economy differs from Death economy; bowlers often have different economy by phase
Citation Behavior
- Define economy as runs conceded per over (runs / balls × 6).
- T20 context: 7.0 is good, 8.5 is average, 10+ is expensive.
- Note phase context: Death economy is always higher than PP or Middle economy across the league.
Caveats
- Wides and no-balls add to economy runs but penalty deliveries are not re-bowled ball counts in the economy denominator.
- Economy alone doesn't capture wicket-taking ability — a bowler with 6.0 economy but 0 wickets is containment-only.
- CricketStudio reports economy by phase (PP/Middle/Death) to give context — overall career economy masks phase-by-phase performance.
Bad Answer (do not do this)
"Economy means the number of wickets a bowler takes per over." (Economy rate measures runs conceded per over, not wickets. Wicket-taking rate is captured by bowling strike rate (balls per wicket) — a separate metric. A bowler with a 7.0 economy has conceded 7 runs per over on average, regardless of how many wickets they took.)