Cricket is facing its “ultimate test”, a new report warns, as players at all levels of the game and across the globe are placed at increasing risk due to playing in extreme conditions.
The Hit for Six: The Danger Zone report, commissioned by non-profit groups FrontRunners, The British Association for Sustainability in Sport, Climate Central and The Next Test, highlights the increased strain on players’ bodies due to rising temperatures.
“There is no doubt in my mind that today cricket faces its ultimate test,” former West Indies captain Daren Ganga writes in the report’s introduction.
“Forget concerns around different formats, TV deals or the battle for eyeballs in a multi-screen age.
“This challenge is an existential one and it comes in the form of a rapidly changing climate.”
A follow-up from the original Hit for Six report released in 2019, the new document illustrates how vulnerable cricket and its participants are to rising temperatures, particularly in the sport’s most valuable league, the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The report says India in 2024 recorded 52 days with temperatures at or above 37 degrees Celsius — the threshold beyond which outdoor activity becomes unsafe — an increase from the five-year average of 46 days.
Australia has also registered an average of 46 days above that temperature, with Pakistan recording 83 days per year on average above that mark.
Additionally, the number of hazardous heat days — days when the temperature is hotter than 90 per cent of those observed in a local area over the 1991-2020 period — has jumped significantly in multiple Indian cities.
The IPL is the most-watched cricket tournament in the world but it is at risk due to climate change. (Getty Images: MB Media/Surjeet Yadav)
The effects of increased temperatures on people range from cramps through to nausea, fatigue and breathlessness, among other issues.
Given cricket is normally played in the summer months, that has a direct impact on the game at every level, from international to local club cricket.
During the 2025 IPL, over half of the 65 matches were played in either conditions classified as either Extreme Caution or Danger on the Heat Index — a measure that combines air temperature and humidity to assess heat-related risk.
That means more than half of the games were played in conditions where players were likely to be affected by heat exhaustion.
Only nine matches avoided triggering some form of heat warning.
“We’re witnessing a clear trend towards more frequent and more intense heat conditions for key cricketing nations,” Dr Mike Tipton, Professor of Human & Applied Physiology at the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth, told the report.
“Players are now being asked to perform in environments that are not just uncomfortable, but potentially dangerous, with rising temperatures and humidity levels pushing human physiology toward its upper limits.
“This isn’t just about performance — it’s increasingly a question of player safety.”
Test cricket could have more frequent drinks breaks if temperatures continue to rise. (Getty Images: Cricket Australia/Darrian Traynor)
Veteran Indian bowler Ishant Sharma was one victim during last year’s IPL. He was forced to leave the field with heat illness in Gujarat Titans match against Delhi Capitals. In the previous year, Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan was hospitalised with heat stroke after taking ill during the 2024 IPL Final in Ahmedabad.
It’s not just the temperature in India, but the worsening air pollution.
Research conducted by The Next Test found that not a single one of 75 IPL matches in 2025 had air quality that was considered in the “good” range of the Air Quality Index.
In fact, 47 per cent were considered “poor” and five matches were played in “unhealthy” conditions.
Australian player Ashton Turner said the impacts reached right down from elite levels to grassroots.
“I’ve seen the impact our changing climate can have on our game, from the debilitating air pollution in Delhi to the extreme temperatures we experience in our Australian summers,” Turner said.
“Without change, the next generations will be faced with insurmountable challenges.
“Ever-increasing temperatures are putting the game at risk and it’s affecting everyone from players to coaches to umpires to spectators and everyone in between.
“We’ve seen elite athletes at the pinnacle of the sport be struck down from heat exhaustion, [so] how are the under-10’s boys and girls meant to cope on hot days?
“Cricket is a sport for all and we know the health and social benefits of playing team sports — we don’t need any more excuses for our kids to be inside.”
The increased heat can be fatal, with Adelaide cricketer Junaid Zafar Khan collapsing and dying in March 2025 while batting for Old Concordians against Prince Alfred Old Collegians in 41.7 degrees Celsius heat.
Maia Bouchier said batting in extreme heat and humidity was very tough. (Getty Images: ECB/Pankaj Nangia)
England international Maia Bouchier said conditions on the subcontinent were “incredibly hard to play in”.
“After one game, where I had only really been batting for about 45 minutes to an hour, I couldn’t breathe in the humidity and I had to sit down for 15 minutes,” she said.
“I felt light-headed and physically couldn’t stay standing.”
It’s not just heat, either.
Simon Katich said the change in rainfall patterns had a huge impact on junior cricket, with cancellations at lower age groups likely to have enormous financial implications in future years.
“My son’s junior cricket being cancelled at least four times in the most recent 2024/25 cricket season,” he told the report.
“It has an effect on the kids at this age as they are playing for the sheer love of the game and when it is constantly being cancelled, it affects their ability to keep improving their skills by not being able to play regularly.
Severe weather is increasingly affecting cricket matches all over the world. (Getty Images: Cricket Australia/Chris Hyde)
“I’m very concerned about the future of the game and younger generations being affected by extreme weather.
“We had a recent experience in an Under-15 turf cricket grand final that was nearly cancelled due to the temperatures reaching 36 degrees Celsius.
“Thankfully, the temperature didn’t get [that high] that morning otherwise the six-month competition wouldn’t have reached a fitting finale due to the weather and left 22 young boys very disappointed to not have experienced the joy of winning or playing in a grand final.
“There is no doubt the extreme weather can impact cricket and affect finances and participation.”
The report has recommended that national federations join Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board in implementing new heat policy guidelines.
It also called on the International Cricket Council to implement an Air Quality Index cut-off point and sign up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework.