Today IPL Match Pitch Report, and Ground Records

How Pitches Behave Across IPL Venues

Generally during the IPL in India, pitches are often batting friendly but the final say comes under the responsibility of the respective home teams. For example during the matches in the Cheapuk in Chennai the home team Chennai Super Kings will have the final say.

 Like CSK has good potent spinners so usually it makes pitches which suits their style of play. Each pitch across the IPL teams behave upon the strengths and weaknesses of the respective franchises. But more or less, the pitches are quite batting friendly in nature.

Common Pitch Types in the IPL

In the Indian Premier League, most of the pitches are generally batting friendly. But overall, the pitches in India are of two types like batting friendly pitch and bowler friendly pitch. Out of so many grounds in India, most of the pitches are typically flat surfaces with true bounce enabling the batsman through the line with ease. 

Grounds like the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and Eden Gardens in Kolkata where there are flat boundaries, quick outfields and often these grounds are batting friendly. On the other hand, grounds like in Cheapuk in Chennai and the ground in Lucknow where pitches tend to be slow and dry where it favours the spinners.

Key Pitch Factors Influencing Play

During the Indian Premier League, several important pitch factors determine the fate of the match. These factors are a bit different from venue to venue and it can even influence the playing eleven of the IPL teams. There are pitches which have hard surfaces and dry surfaces. Hard surface pitches often provide good pace and bounce which can favour the batsman and the fast bowlers.

 On the other hand, dry or spin friendly surfaces like in Chennai or Lucknow will most likely favour the spinners where the bowl turns. In pitches like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, dew factors play a huge rule in the evening matches and winning the toss becomes important as teams prefer to chase. During the IPL in the evening time, moisture plays a role in some grounds in India where initially it can help the fast bowlers.

Toss Trends and Match Impact
 

Toss became important in the Indian Premier League due to the influence of different pitch factors and also the dew factors. Recently in the IPL, teams winning the toss often prefer to chase.

 This is because of the dew factor which can make the ball wet especially in the second innings and that is why teams usually like to chase which makes batting easier in the second innings. Grounds like Chinnaswamy, Wankhede and Eden Gardens, dew plays a major factor.

Average Scores at IPL Stadiums

Since 2024, the pitches across all the IPL stadiums are batting friendly, most of the ground dimensions are small and the batters are using thick bats which helps the batsman to hit sixes easily. In recent years, especially from the year 2024, the average first-innings score across all the IPL venues ranges typically from 160 to 190 runs. In every IPL venue in India, the minimum average first innings has to be 160 runs. 
 

Gone are days when pitches in various IPL grounds used to be low and slow and 160-170 runs used to be a winning total. On the other hand, there are certain grounds where 190 runs is not safe due to the flat batting wickets and small dimensions of the ground. 

First Innings Average Score Trends

 Gradually the first innings score in the IPL is increasing day by day which reflects the pitch conditions and the power-hitting ability of the batsman in the modern era. While from the early seasons of the IPL the average first innings total was going around 150-160 runs. But from the year 2023 and 2024, 170 runs and 180 runs is a minimum first innings average score. In the IPL nowadays, batters have become fearless plays with more freedom and targets the bowlers from ball one.

 Different venues have different first innings scores. For example, at venues like Wankhede stadium and Chinnaswamy, there are high scoring runs which are above 180-190. Whereas there are venues like Cheapuk in Chennai and Ekana stadium in Lucknow, the first innings average score is 150-160 runs because of the slow pitche

High-Scoring vs Low-Scoring Patterns
 

Again in this case too, the high scoring and the low scoring factors depend upon the pitch conditions, the weather conditions and the team strategies. Like high scoring matches most commonly happens at venues like the Chinnaswamy stadium and the Wankhede stadium and the Narendra Modi stadium in Gujarat where no score is safe and the batting second teams often chases down any given total. 

In these venues a total of 210 or a 220 is also not safe. While contrastingly in the low scoring patterns a total of 150 or a 160 runs looks more than handy in grounds like Cheapuk and Ekana in Lucknow. In these matches bowlers dictate the terms and often provide low scoring thrillers.

Batting or Bowling Advantage at IPL Grounds

During the Indian Premier League, there are several grounds where batting first is an advantage whereas there are several grounds where chasing becomes a safer option. It also depends upon the ground dimensions and weather conditions too. For example in grounds like Wankhede in Mumbai and Eden Gardens in Kolkata, teams often prefer to chase because of flat pitches, fast outfields and short boundaries. 
 

Therefore, high scoring matches often happen here. On the other hand, there are several grounds where batting first becomes important because of the slow nature of the pitch, for example in Chepauk Stadium in Chennai and Ekana Stadium in Lucknow where the pitch tends to help the spinners.

Conditions Favoring Batters

In IPL grounds there are stadiums which mostly favours the batsman in this modern era nowadays. With flat pitches and small ground dimensions in mostly all the stadiums of IPL, the conditions almost favour the batsman and that is why when the experts do the pitch report they mostly say T20 cricket especially the IPL is a batsman’s game and the bowlers need to do all kinds of hard work through variations and strategies.

 We see at times in flat grounds, bowler bowls round the wicket just not to allow the batsman to settle down. Also the white balls used during the IPL matches remain hard for a long period of time and it gets easier to hit especially in the first innings. Another important factor is the impact of the dew in the night matches and due to this batsman gets an undue advantage. The dew tends to make the ball slippery which decreases the bowler’s grip and makes it difficult to bowl in the right area.

Conditions Favoring Bowlers

In IPL grounds like conditions favour the batsman, there are also some grounds which favours the bowlers as well. In IPL grounds like the Cheapuk in Chennai and the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, the pitches there tend to offer help to the spinners and make it harder to score for the batsman. Also nowadays in the IPL 2025, the pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium is a bit two paced and makes it difficult for batters to hit through the line. 
 

Also in the afternoon games in the IPL, in some grounds the pitches can give early swing and seam movement due to moisture which gives an advantage to the bowlers especially if it’s overcast conditions.

 Bowlers like Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah are T20 specialist bowlers and use variations like slower balls and cutters and yorkers and try to use their T20 variations and thrives in these situations. Also there are grounds which are a bit larger in size like the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad and the Ekana stadium in Lucknow which helps the bowlers to bowl with more freedom.

How can IPL Pitch Report affect Team Performance?
 

The pitch report in the IPL is very important as it says whether the pitch is a batting pitch or a bowling pitch or whether it will turn or not, the pitch report refers to the lot of indications what the pitch will offer. The pitch report also plays an important role in the team composition as in if a pitch is providing assistance to the spinners offering some grip and turn then the particular team adds an extra spinner to their playing eleven or in the impact sub. 
 

The pitch report also plays in the mind of the captains during the toss time as captains often see the pitch report and then decide whether to bowl first or bat first. For example, when the pitch is slow and offering a turn the captains tend to choose to bat first as the conditions deteriorate in the second half of the innings. 
 

The batting strategy and the bowling strategy also depends upon the pitch report for example, if the pitch is flat and has true bounce then the batsman goes aggressive and on the other hand in a bowling pitch the bowlers use lots of variations in order to keep the runs in check.

Why Match Day Pitch Reports Matter?

The match day pitch report especially in the T20s dictates the outcome of the match especially in a tournament like IPL. The match day pitch reports are also important because they provide real-time insights of the playing conditions which can dictate the team strategy and even the selection of the players into a particular playing 11.

 In the other longer formats if the strategies are messed up then teams can recover but in T20s especially in the IPL, if the team strategy is not up to the mark then the outcome of the match is gone. 
 

Therefore the pitch analysis is really important especially on match days. Also by knowing the pitch conditions on the match day, the batters may choose to be aggressive if the pitch is flat and if the pitch is slow, the batters can adjust accordingly and look to rotate the strike and hit the odd boundaries here and there. Therefore in high stake matches like IPL where often the results get decided by the barest of margins, the match day pitch report can be a defining factor.