Someone explain DLS to me. It seems to be a joke with a target of 113 when the team batting first scored 131!

[Ultimate_Game]

I'm simply lost for words what a joke DLS is. Looked at the Eng(w)-Pak(w) match scorecard and couldn't believe my eyes! England scored 131 from 31 overs in a rain curtailed match and Pak's target was 113 in the same number of overs (31)!

 

How on earth is that possible?! In fact the target should've been higher coz Eng batted most of their innings thinking they'll get 50 overs to bat and due to rain they only faced 31 overs. But somehow DLS target for Pak reduced the target by 19 runs! Instead of scoring 132 to win, Pak only has to score 113! In fact the target should've been bumped up to make for the reduction of overs but it was the other way round! Surely there has to be a better and more sensical formula instead of this DLS joke!

 

Here's the match I'm referring to:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc-women-s-world-cup-2025-26-1478193/england-women-vs-pakistan-women-16th-match-1490428/live-cricket-score

 

P.S: I'm actually glad that DLS is in favor of Pak as it'll benefit India if Pak upsets Eng. But the whole target setting thing simply doesn't make sense as a cricket fan.

[Bigg Brother]

I thought the target would be 160+ when the innings ended. England Women got robbed. DLS has always been a joke..About time they move on from that ancient system.

[rollingstoned]

10 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

I'm simply lost for words what a joke DLS is. Looked at the Eng(w)-Pak(w) match scorecard and couldn't believe my eyes! England scored 131 from 31 overs in a rain curtailed match and Pak's target was 113 in the same number of overs (31)!

 

How on earth is that possible?! In fact the target should've been higher coz Eng batted most of their innings thinking they'll get 50 overs to bat and due to rain they only faced 31 overs. But somehow DLS target for Pak reduced the target by 19 runs! Instead of scoring 132 to win, Pak only has to score 113! In fact the target should've been bumped up to make for the reduction of overs but it was the other way round! Surely there has to be a better and more sensical formula instead of this DLS joke!

 

Here's the match I'm referring to:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc-women-s-world-cup-2025-26-1478193/england-women-vs-pakistan-women-16th-match-1490428/live-cricket-score

 

P.S: I'm actually glad that DLS is in favor of Pak as it'll benefit India if Pak upsets Eng. But the whole target setting thing simply doesn't make sense as a cricket fan.

Yea I posted this in the world Cup thread. Makes no sense at all unless it's something I'm majorly missing. Never seen it calculated this way. 

[Tillu]

England propped up their run rate due to them facing only 6 overs after the rain delay.

 

Maybe DLS is based on the assumption that England may score well below the Current Run Rate due to them already losing 7 wickets.

[Ultimate_Game]

1 minute ago, Tillu said:

England propped up their run rate due to them facing only 6 overs after the rain delay.

 

Maybe DLS is based on the assumption that England may score well below the Current Run Rate due to them already losing 7 wickets.

 

Then why even play the remainder of the overs if they don't make a difference? Also, this is what happens at the end of the innings - batting teams generally try to maximize their score and would've done the same towards the end of innings if the innings had been a 50 overs innings.

 

My point is that if Eng faced 31 overs and scored 131, how can their opponent only get a target of 113 in same number of overs? And if DLS is going to come up with a target anyway then why make Eng bat after the rain? Simply set a target and ask Pak to bat instead of Eng batting and scoring 131, which didn't factor in anyway 

[The Hound]

Wickets loss is a factor ig 

[Tillu]

11 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Then why even play the remainder of the overs if they don't make a difference? Also, this is what happens at the end of the innings - batting teams generally try to maximize their score and would've done the same towards the end of innings if the innings had been a 50 overs innings.

 

My point is that if Eng faced 31 overs and scored 131, how can their opponent only get a target of 113 in same number of overs? And if DLS is going to come up with a target anyway then why make Eng bat after the rain? Simply set a target and ask Pak to bat instead of Eng batting and scoring 131, which didn't factor in anyway 

 

Yeah there is no fool proof way to account for all the variables. They are just throwing a random formula to produce the match result and everyone seems to be in agreement with it.

[Ultimate_Game]

13 minutes ago, Tillu said:

 

Yeah there is no fool proof way to account for all the variables. They are just throwing a random formula to produce the match result and everyone seems to be in agreement with it.

 

But there has to be some logic to it. How can the chasing team's target be LESS than what the first team scored in the same number of overs? Surely some common sense needs to come in where some basic rules such as "the target for chasing team would be higher of what the team batting first scored or the DLS calculator target if the chasing team gets to bat the same number of overs (or more) which the first team batted"

[Ultimate_Game]

28 minutes ago, The Hound said:

Wickets loss is a factor ig 

 

That should happen only in case Eng doesn't get to play remainder of the overs. How can you factor in the wkts lost to come up with a target when the batting team has already scored more than that in the same no. of overs?

 

It's like giving a batter not out when he's bowled claiming the DRS system shows it's umpire's call and ignoring what actually transpired. I would've been fine with the target of 113 if Eng innings had ended at 79/7 after 25 overs. But Eng did come out to bat and they managed to reach a target of 131. So how can a random hypothetical calculation overrule what actually transpired?

 

If everything's based on calculation, why even bother with Eng batting after the rain coz the target still wouldn't have been too different. It looks like Eng's batting efforts after the rain were simply ignored. When a model (DLS) ignores the actual performances and facts in its calculation, what good is it? I recall there was a much more accurate method called Jayadevan method (VJD) but was ignored as at the time western bloc/goras were more influential and VJD method was ignored despite being much more accurate.

https://blog.cricheroes.com/what-is-the-difference-between-dls-and-vjd-method/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayadevan's_system

 

[Ultimate_Game]

57 minutes ago, Bigg Brother said:

I thought the target would be 160+ when the innings ended. England Women got robbed. DLS has always been a joke..About time they move on from that ancient system.

 

Same here. I thought the target would be closer to 150-160 and it would be an interesting match. But DLS simply gifted the match to Pak in this case.

[bowl_out]

Wickets played a factor I guess. 

They wouldn't have lasted 50 overs given how quickly their top order fell. 

[tapandrun]

There is a page on this in ICC site

[Gollum]

1 hour ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Same here. I thought the target would be closer to 150-160 and it would be an interesting match. But DLS simply gifted the match to Pak in this case.

Yeah, that is why I think split points is a somewhat fair result at the end of the day. 150 in 31 overs against Eng in Colombo is tough for a team like Pak which has 2 semi good batters. Eng spinners have been the best on show this WC, with BD a close second. 

Edited October 15, 2025 by Gollum

[vvvslaxman]

Wicket loss will be punished.  England lost too many wickets in the regular time.  Always been the case. Our men's team suffered also benefitted from it.  

[vvvslaxman]

If you look at world cup 2019 India vs Pakistan

 

India made 336/5 in 50 overs

 

But Pakistan was asked to make 302 in 40 overs

 

 

Clearly that benefitted us. 

[Forever Indian]

This is what has been put on Espncricinfo Commentary section:

"A fair few messages asking how and why the target is less than England scored? It is because England's innings was wrecked before the rain came, and therefore the loss of overs was actually to their advantage, as they were able to play more aggressively on the resumption, knowing that they didn't have to survive for 25 overs. Had they continued in a 50-over game from 79 for 7, they might well have been bowled out more cheaply."

[vvvslaxman]

2 minutes ago, Forever Indian said:

This is what has been put on Espncricinfo Commentary section:

"A fair few messages asking how and why the target is less than England scored? It is because England's innings was wrecked before the rain came, and therefore the loss of overs was actually to their advantage, as they were able to play more aggressively on the resumption, knowing that they didn't have to survive for 25 overs. Had they continued in a 50-over game from 79 for 7, they might well have been bowled out more cheaply."

Also bowling resources get messed up  as the allocation of overs get changed. Just incase if you had bowled too many overs of your death bowler early on you probably will miss the advantage of using them in the backend. It is pretty complex.

[Forever Indian]

DLS takes into account a lot of things and prime amongst that is how many wickets were lost at time of rain break. So in this case England were 79/7 in a 50 over game when rain break happened, so had it continued it is very likely they would have been allout for less than 150 in 50 overs game. Now when game gets reduced for both teams and Pakistan is also reduced overs, in order to not disadvantage Pakistan the 150 is reduced to cater to the reduced overs they need to face.

 

Had Engalnd been 79/3 instead of seven down, the score would have been way higher because they had the wickets to end closer to 250 for example.

 

DLS may not be perfect but it is the best of what we have for now. Now that AI is booming Cricket should start using that for these score revisions/predictions. 

[Ultimate_Game]

3 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

Wicket loss will be punished.  England lost too many wickets in the regular time.  Always been the case. Our men's team suffered also benefitted from it.  

 

2 hours ago, Forever Indian said:

This is what has been put on Espncricinfo Commentary section:

"A fair few messages asking how and why the target is less than England scored? It is because England's innings was wrecked before the rain came, and therefore the loss of overs was actually to their advantage, as they were able to play more aggressively on the resumption, knowing that they didn't have to survive for 25 overs. Had they continued in a 50-over game from 79 for 7, they might well have been bowled out more cheaply."

 

Wickets loss should be punished if the match doesn't resume. If Eng has already batted and scored 131, how can the target be lower? That simply doesn't make sense and even creators of DLS would admit it. It's a flawed model and it's time we revise it and find something better like VJD system.

[vvvslaxman]

9 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

 

Wickets loss should be punished if the match doesn't resume. If Eng has already batted and scored 131, how can the target be lower? That simply doesn't make sense and even creators of DLS would admit it. It's a flawed model and it's time we revise it and find something better like VJD system.

 

 

They look at the starting point basically.  For instance if a team scores 120/9 in 15 overs in a 50 over game and the rain comes if they reduce it to a 15 over game they won't give the opposition the same target. In this specifc scenario  a game that started as a 50 over game and if the opposition is 120/9 in 15 overs DLS target will be just 60 runs for the opposition. From 120/9 they could very well get bowled for 120. Instead of giving 120 runs in 50 overs they adjust it for 15 overs and give 60 runs.