Explanation of D/L method in Cricket

The D/L system is based on resources available to a team, and in an ODI, both overs and wickets in hand count as resources. A team exhausts all its resources either when it runs out of overs or wickets. The Duckworth/Lewis system has been around for a while now, but there is still plenty of confusion about how the method works.

During an interruption, the loss of overs translates into loss of resources for the team, the compensation for which is the extra runs added to the opposition's target. An example makes this easier to understand: let's say a team had been 190 for 2 after 38, at which stage rain reduced the contest to 40 overs. The batsmen, who had been pacing their innings for 50 overs, suddenly have just two overs in hand, which is patently unfair to them, and offers the opposition a huge advantage. The increase in the target score is then obviously justified.

However, the potential to utilise the lost overs depends on wickets in hand.For instance, if India had been 128 for 2, instead of 128 for 6, after 36, and had eventually been bowled out for 194, Australia's target would have been 211. If India had been 128 for 4 at the interruption and then gone on to score 194, Australia's target would have been 205. To think of this intuitively, a team which is denied five overs when they've lost only two wickets has a much greater chance of making those overs count, than a team which is denied five overs when they've already lost eight wickets.

So,D/L method is always been a boon for the team which is batting second that is second ininngs of the match.