First published November 2026

VR Cricket: Can You Play Cricket in a VR Headset?

Yes - VR cricket games put you at the crease inside a VR headset with a controller standing in for the bat. Named titles like iB Cricket run on today’s consumer headsets and a ball bowled at you behaves much as it does on a real pitch.

What is VR cricket?

VR cricket is cricket played inside a VR headset. The display fills your view with a ground, a pitch and a bowler; the bat in your hands is a hand controller. A game tracks that controller as you swing so the shot comes from your own movement rather than a button press. A session needs a VR headset, a controller and enough clear space to swing freely.

Can you play cricket in VR?

Yes. Cricket suits VR because the whole game is a ball, a bat and a person deciding when to swing. That decision is the part a headset reproduces, since the controller follows the hands and the display follows the head.

You stand at the crease, look around the field and face a bowler who runs in from the other end. The view turns with your head so a glance at midwicket or a look down the pitch is a turn of the neck.

For a cricket follower the appeal is the angle. The view is the batter’s own with the ball leaving the bowler’s hand in front of you. The field spreads out around your own position at the crease. Judging it is the same job it is outdoors.

What VR cricket games can you play?

Four VR cricket games are available on consumer headsets. Each one puts a bat in your hand.

iB Cricket, on the Meta Quest Store for Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S and Quest Pro and on Steam for PC-connected headsets.
CricketX, standalone on Quest 2, 3, 3S and Pro with a controller mount that holds a real cricket bat.
Runmaka Cricket, on Meta Quest as a subscription title in early access.
Cricketer Edition by V Games Lab, on Quest as a subscription title.

CricketX stands apart for the bat itself, since the controller clips into a mount and the swing carries the weight of a full bat. The other three run on the controller alone.

The Quest games run on the headset alone so play needs a charged unit and a clear patch of floor. Steam copies pair the headset with a PC.

How does batting work in VR cricket?

Batting in VR cricket resembles the outdoor game. The headset shows the bowler’s run-up and the delivery. The controller in your hands stands in for the bat.

Timing sets the moment of contact. Direction comes from the path of the swing so a drive past mid-off and a pull to leg are both your own movements. Placement follows from the swing, the same way it does outdoors.

A batter who plays club cricket will recognise the cues because the input is the swing itself.

Do professional cricket teams use VR?

Professional cricket has tested VR: the documented case is a training trial in 2017 which Guinness World Records lists as the first VR cricket training simulation trial. On 13 December 2017 a team at the Movement Innovation Lab at Queen’s University Belfast ran the trial. The England and Wales Cricket Board visited the facility to test the equipment. The Guardian reported the visit.

The system came from Professor Cathy Craig’s team. It was aimed at reading deliveries from fast bowlers, the cues that tell a batter what is coming. Reading the bowler’s action and the flight of the ball is the skill the setup worked on. A simulation can present those cues again and again.

Cricket is one sport that has used a simulator for practice. The history of sports simulators traces the same idea back to the arcade cabinet and the scoreboard that settled arguments.

Fan engagement has its own record: in 2019 iB Cricket was named official VR gaming partner of five IPL teams. That role was built around supporters rather than squad training. Research groups have also studied VR batting in small studies.

The same game has to clear a different bar for a room of colleagues and that bar is set by the goal, the inclusion and the debrief behind a team building activity.

How much do VR cricket games cost?

Two of the four titles are bought outright and two run on subscriptions. iB Cricket and CricketX are one-time purchases on their store listings and Runmaka Cricket and Cricketer Edition are sold as subscriptions with Runmaka listed as early access. Current figures sit on each store listing.

Is VR cricket easy to pick up?

VR cricket is easy to pick up because the swing is a movement most people already have. A cricket follower arrives with the shots and the timing; the headset simply puts them on a ground.

The swing is the only control which keeps the first ball simple. A complete newcomer grips the controller like a bat handle and swings once or twice to find its weight. From there the game is cricket with the ground around you instead of on a screen.

Playing at home is one thing. For a headset session at a corporate function, the evening hire brings the headsets and an experience manager to run it.

Sources

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