Gully Cricket guide: gully rules, playing straight and hitting the six line

What is Gully Cricket?

Gully Cricket is a free 3D street cricket game set in Gali No. 4, a made-up lane in Krishna Nagar that is two and a half cars wide. Three versus three: Tigers XI against Strikers XI, the two halves of the gully. Bricks for stumps, a forty-rupee red ball, and houses on both sides that swallow anything you hit in the air.

You can play the 9-chapter story, "Count It", a versus match of 1, 2, 3 or 5 overs a side, or practice in the nets.

The gully rules

Batting: timing and direction

It works like the classic PC cricket games, with the camera behind the bowler. The arrow keys only aim, as you see it on screen (hold them): Down is straight back past the bowler, Left and Right are the bowler's left and right, Down with Left or Right is forward to that side, Up is fine behind you. Then, as the ball arrives, choose your feet: S plays off the front foot, W off the back foot, and D steps down the road to meet it. Hold Shift with any of them to hit it in the air. With no arrow at all, the shot is a block. A leaves the ball alone. Before the ball is bowled, hold Left or Right to move across the crease; once it is in the air the arrows aim the shot. On a phone, hold the direction pad and tap FRONT, BACK or STEP, with LOFT and LEAVE above them. A red ring shows where each ball will pitch, and the timing bar shows when to hit.

Stepping out is the best answer to the spinners, but miss and the keeper stumps you. Do not charge the quicks.

Your timing also moves the ball: early pulls it to your leg side, late pushes it to the off side, and very late on a side shot runs it fine behind you, sometimes for four at the back.

Play straight

The gully is about six metres wide. A ground shot at an angle bounces off a wall and stays alive (and the ball can still roll past the chalk lines). A lofted shot at an angle almost always lands in somebody's compound or on a balcony, and that's out. Only loft balls in your slot, straight down the gully. The six line is about 35 metres away, so it takes good timing and a bit of power: Golu and Happy clear it most easily.

Running to the chappal

Ground shots past the bowler earn the chalk-line runs on their own. Run on top of that only when the ball is past the bowler and nobody is close to it. If a fielder picks it up near the end you are running to, turn back: you can only be run out at that end. Chotu is the fastest runner; Golu is not.

Bowling

Bowling works like the old PC cricket games: pick the delivery first, then where it pitches, then the pace. The quicks have a stock ball, an inswinger, an outswinger, an off-cutter, a leg-cutter and a slower ball; swing moves in the air and most when the ball is pitched up, cutters move off the road. Ishaan's off-spin has the off-break, the arm ball, a doosra and a top-spinner; Tony's leg-spin has the leg-break, the googly, the flipper and a top-spinner. Q (or OVER) switches over or around the wicket. Then put the yellow marker where the ball should pitch: at the batter's feet is a yorker, short is a bouncer. Hold Space (or BOWL) to run in and the speed bar fills; let go to bowl at that speed. Hold past the white line and you overstep: a no-ball. Miss the yorker length by a little and it becomes a full toss, which gets hit.

Move your free fielder with FIELD: close for one tip one hand catches, mid to stop the 1s and 2s, deep to stop the four against big hitters. When a catch comes your way, tap the ring as it closes.

The story chapters

The story is Chotu's summer. He is twelve, the youngest, the little one whose outs never count, and his brother Ankit, the gully's legend, has left for college. When the residents' association bans cricket in the lanes, Ishaan's father makes a deal: win the Krishna Nagar Colony Cup and the gully stays. Nine chapters follow, each told by a different kid and each turning on Chotu: the last match before the ban, the trials where he becomes the keeper, league games away at the Railway Colony (over the boundary wall onto the tracks is out), Pipeline Road (into the concrete pipes or the nala is out) and the Sector 9 society (over the railings is out), a farewell friendly, a semi-final in the old-city lane under the Lal Kothi and a two-part final at home, where your bowling sets the target you chase. Most chapters are full matches of 2 to 6 overs a side, so the story takes about an hour. Every ground has its own street, light and things to hit. The scenes are short, one line at a time, and each chapter you win leaves a photo on the story screen.

Interruptions

Now and then a car backs out of a gate, a scooter comes through, the sabzi cart passes, Kaalu the dog lies down on the pitch or somebody's mother calls from a balcony. Everyone steps aside and the game waits. You can set them to Off, Some or Lots.

FAQ

Is Gully Cricket free? Yes, in your browser on computers and phones, nothing to install.

How do I get on the leaderboard? Create a free account (18+) and play Versus. Match points count your runs, the wickets you take, sixes and the result, scaled so any number of overs is fair.

Is Sharma Aunty real? Every gully has one. This one is made up.