When teams finish a group stage level on points, net run rate usually separates them. The measure is simple to calculate and produces incentives that shape how matches are played long before the table matters.
The calculation compares scoring speed
Net run rate subtracts the runs a team concedes per over across a tournament from the runs it scores per over across the same matches.
It is a tournament-wide figure rather than a per-match average, so a single heavy defeat can outweigh several narrow wins.
Because it aggregates, the measure rewards consistency of margin rather than consistency of result, which is not what league points are meant to reward.
A team bowled out is charged full overs
A side dismissed before using its allocation is treated as having batted the full quota, so being bowled out cheaply is punished twice.
The rule prevents a team from improving its rate by collapsing quickly, which would otherwise reward failure with a favourable divisor.
It also means a tail-end partnership that adds runs slowly can still help, because the overs are counted regardless.
Chases end at the winning run
A successful chase is measured over the overs actually used, so finishing a target quickly improves the rate substantially more than finishing it comfortably.
This produces the familiar sight of a side already certain of victory attacking aggressively, sometimes risking wickets for no competitive reason within that match.
Teams calculate the required tempo in advance and treat the chase as two objectives, winning and winning inside a specified number of overs.
The measure ignores context entirely
Net run rate does not distinguish a bowling-friendly pitch from a flat one, so a low-scoring win on a difficult surface helps less than a routine one elsewhere.
Nor does it weight opposition strength, meaning a large victory over the weakest team in a group counts the same as a narrow one over the strongest.
Schedules are not identical either, so teams may reach the same points total having faced different fixtures in different conditions.
Alternatives exist but are rarely adopted
Head-to-head results, points from a specific stage or a wickets-adjusted margin have all been proposed as tiebreakers at various times.
Each removes one distortion and introduces another, and none is as easy to display on a scoreboard during a live match.
Net run rate survives largely because a viewer can watch it change over by over, which is a genuine virtue in a sport played over many hours.
