Wankhede Stadium Pitch Report, T20 Records & Stats 2026
📍 City: Hyderabad
🏟️ Capacity: ~55,000
🏏 Home: Sunrisers Hyderabad
About Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Official Name | Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium |
| Common Name | Uppal Stadium / Hyderabad Stadium |
| Location | Uppal, Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
| Established | 2004 |
| Capacity | ~55,000 spectators (post-2025 upgrades) |
| IPL Home Team | Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) |
| Previous IPL Tenant | Deccan Chargers (2008–2012) |
| Bowling Ends | Pavilion End & VVS Laxman (North) End |
| Average Boundary | ~72 metres (straight) |
| Flood Lights | Yes |
| Notable Distinction | Hosted IPL Finals 2017 & 2019; HCA Best Ground Award 2019 & 2024 |
Inaugurated in 2004, Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium has been built by Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) and has been one of the most beloved and most modern Cricket Stadiums of India. Built in the suburb of Uppal, Hyderabad, it is built on 15 acres of land and is expected to hold 55,000 spectators after the upgrades. The stadium was also named in honor of the Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It has also become a premier stadium for India’s International and Domestic Cricket.
The venue has been home to two IPL franchises as well, the Deccan Chargers and the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 2009 IPL title was won by the Deccan Chargers here. The Sunrisers Hyderabad also Won the IPL Title in 2016 and it was under the captaincy of David Warner. The venue also hosted IPL Finals in 2017 and 2019 and hence holds a very high value in the league’s history.
What makes Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium stand out in IPL holds is that in particular it has been modified to become a very high scoring Batting Stadium. With the influence of the Hyderabad Sunrisers Batting Philosophy combined with the power of the Batting of players like Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen, this ground was able to reach a level that was unparalleled in T20 matches and reach extreme scores that have never been achieved before in the history of T20 matches. Due to the excellent management of the playing and the outfield, the HCA has won the IPL Best Ground and Pitch award in the years 2019 and 2024.
The Pitch Report
The Rajiv Gandhi stadium’s pitch is a batter’s dream. The pitch is flat and hard which leads to more than average pace and bounce. This encourages a T20 power hitting style on the surface. The early overs of the game won’t see much assistance to the spinners. The surface gives the batsman confidence to play their shots. The stadium also has some of the biggest boundaries in the league, measuring 72 meters in the center. Even then, the average score is in the range of 180 – 200. Hitting the long boundaries is a lot easier due to the surface on the pitch.
The majority of the wickets that fall at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium are due to pace bowlers. 73% of the wickets are bowlers and that number keeps increasing due to the bounce the pitch provides. Good pace bowlers will get a lot of wickets in the first 6 overs of the game. The pitch will play in favor of the pace bowlers. Even the spinners will struggle to get wickets as the batters will be more settled and will look to consolidate the innings. The spinners are defensive options and will get wickets in the middle overs.
In the past few IPL seasons (2024-2025), Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium has experienced a record first-inning average score of 175-185 runs. This is a notable jump from the average IPL score of 163 due to the extreme firepower in the batting line up of the SRH. In IPL 2024, SRH broke the record for the highest team total in IPL history at that time, scoring 277/3 against Mumbai Indians, and in 2025, Abhishek Sharma made history with a 141-run inning game against PBKS.
With this information, fantasy players should take a strong batting centric approach and expect fast scoring, and with that comes the opportunity for a large amount of fantasy points, with very little potential for points from bowlers.
Toss Bias & Win Predictor
The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium has drastically changed throw bias in IPL history. Out of 82 matches played at the venue, the team that batted second won 47 matches (57%), while the team batting first won 35 matches (43%). In this venue, the chasing advantage is moderate – it is less than at Wankhede and Eden Gardens, but more than at Chepauk.
Throughout the most recent IPL seasons (2024-2025), the advantage of chasing tended to diminish slightly, as SRH established very large first-innings totals that no team could chase, indicating that the caliber of the batting lineup becomes more important than the outcome of the toss.
Batting First Win %
43%
Chasing Win %
57%
Verdict: When considering the Wankhede and Eden Gardens captains are more certain with the CHASE call, here they are less certain. At this venue, teams chasing have won 57% of all completed matches here, however this is not fully convincing. The deciding factor is your team composition, should you have good quality death over bowling, then enabling to set a target of 170-180 is an option.
However, should you have a top heavy batting order focusing on the chase, then it should be noted that with this strategy 185+ should and can be targeted once the lights are on, this is typically a better option at this venue. In the last couple of IPL 2024-2025 seasons, SRH have been noted to bat first, and set match winning scores, therefore the chasing phenomenon should be assessed considering the teams playing.
Key T20 Records
Average 1st Innings
175
(94 IPL matches)
Highest IPL Total
277/3
(SRH vs MI, 2024)
Lowest Defended
126
(SRH vs KXIP, 2014)
Wicket Split
Pace: 73%
Spin: 27%
Weather & Dew Factor
Along with Chennai, Hyderabad is one of the hottest places to host an IPL match. The average temperature during the day goes as high as 36-40 degrees celsius. Nighttime temperatures however drop to around 28-32 degrees celsius. The pre-monsoon seasons dry breezes constantly blow across the ground and keep the humidity between 50 and 60 percent making it more comfortable. The surface temperature is recorded at an average of 536 degrees resulting in a lower average as compared to other IPL venues.
The location on the deccan pi plateau also aims a more cubic park of the seasons humidity. With the plank on which the plateau is set been used to keep the surface of the deccan plateau a hyper dry area. This results in a lower average of the region. once dry area is removed and permeability is reached a hyper dry ambient.
💧 DEW FACTOR: LOW TO MODERATE — THE WIND WILL MAKE THE MOST DIFFERENCE. Compared to the Mumbai and Kolkata coastal venues, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, located on the Deccan Plateau, is less affected by dew due to being more elevated and inland. Dew formation is less of an issue due to the dominant dry northwesterly winds during April and May, and in most of the evening IPL matches, dew does not form. However, during this period, and especially in the later part of the evening due to the pre-monsoon humidity, dew can settle, impacting the game from the 15th-17th overs in calm wind conditions, particularly matches that go beyond 10:30 PM.
This is one of the venues where you need to watch the day’s forecast to determine dew: if there is even a slight breeze of 10 km/h, then dew will not form, and in the last 3-4 overs, a calm night will even produce enough moisture to alter a spinner’s grip. Dew will be more of an issue at Wankhede or Eden Gardens. In conclusion, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is one of the venues where dew is less of a concern.
IPL Records at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium has had many of T20 cricket’s magical moments, since it hosted the very first game of the IPL, with the first match being played on April 22 2008. It has hosted the best IPL bowling figures of all time with Alzarri Joseph’s brilliant 6/12 for the Mumbai Indians in 2019, and the biggest team totals in IPL history with SRH monster 277/3 in 2024. No other IPL venue has demonstrated the brilliance of the format as they have.
🏏 Highest IPL Totals at This Venue
| Team | Score | Vs | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| SRH | 277/3 | MI | 2024 |
| SRH | 286/6 | RR | 2025 |
| SRH | 266/7 | PBKS | 2024 |
| SRH | 246/5 | MI | 2024 |
| SRH | 228/4 | DC | 2024 |
📉 Lowest IPL Totals at This Venue
| Team | Score | Vs | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi Daredevils | 80 | SRH | 2013 |
| KKR | 96 | DC/SRH | — |
| Pune Warriors | 108 | SRH | 2013 |
| KXIP | 119 | SRH | 2014 |
| RCB | 109 | SRH | 2016 |
Best Individual Performers at Uppal Stadium
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is defined by one player, and that player is undoubtedly David Warner. Warner’s record of 4,014 IPL runs at this single stadium is the greatest record any single player has at any IPL venue in the history of the IPL and it is highly unlikely that any player will ever achieve that in the future. The bar set by Warner is so extreme that it will remain unmatched for decades. In addition to Warner, the stadium is home to the most explosive individual bowling record in IPL history with Alzarri Joseph’s astonishing 6/12 on his IPL debut in 2019.
🔥 Top Individual Scores (IPL) at This Venue
| Batsman | Score | Balls | Strike Rate | Fixture | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abhishek Sharma | 141 | 55 | 256 | SRH vs PBKS | 2025 |
| Travis Head | 102* | 41 | 248 | SRH vs MI | 2024 |
| David Warner | 126 | 59 | 213 | SRH vs KKR | 2017 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 97* | 53 | 183 | SRH vs KXIP | 2016 |
| Heinrich Klaasen | 104* | 51 | 203 | SRH vs RCB | 2024 |
📊 All-Time IPL Run Scorers at This Venue
| Batsman | Runs | Team |
|---|---|---|
| David Warner | 4,014 | SRH / DC |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 2,768 | SRH / DC |
| Kane Williamson | 2,101 | SRH |
| Rohit Sharma | 890+ | MI |
| MS Dhoni | 740+ | CSK |
🎯 Best Bowling Figures (IPL) at This Venue
| Bowler | Figures | Fixture | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alzarri Joseph | 6/12 | MI vs SRH | 2019 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 5/19 | SRH vs MI | 2017 |
| Rashid Khan | 4/10 | SRH vs KXIP | 2019 |
| T Natarajan | 4/16 | SRH vs CSK | 2020 |
| Dale Steyn | 4/22 | SRH vs RCB | 2016 |
Fantasy Cricket Tips: Playing a Match at Uppal Stadium
🏏 Target SRH’s Openers Above All
The highest goal-scoring venue in the recent IPL history is Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium because of the performances of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. While SRH are batting at home, their opening pair are always the highest fantasy returns batting combinations in the whole league. Both players are aggressive hitters and the best batting pair at Rajiv Gandhi, as the pitch is ideal for all of them. SRH are playing at home and for your fantasy team, you must include one of the two.
⚡ Back the Pace Bowling Attack
With 73% of all wickets falling to pacers, this venue is one of the most fast bowling friendly IPL venues. So, the best wicket-taker choices at Uppal are good new ball pacers and death over bowlers in the low 20s. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has taken 157 wickets at this venue which has established pace bowling as the most successful style at this venue.
📊 Ignore Match Totals — Back the Hitters
The history of Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium shows that typical scoring criteria do not apply to the stadium. Scores of 165-170 which are winning totals at venues like Chepauk are easily chased at Uppal, and in SRH home games, totals over 200 are very common. So, do not set conservative scoring expectations as other venues, as this venue punishes conservative team selections and rewards aggressive hitters.
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is known for the most explosive batting in modern IPL history, so your fantasy team must reflect that without question. Select a minimum of 4-5 batters, and for all your bowling picks, go pace as opposed to spin. Additionally, always look to see which team is batting first as in the previous seasons when SRH chose to bat at this venue, the totals have been so high that the batters from the team that have to chase the total have a near impossible task.
A combination of a generational batting lineup, a fast outfield, a flat pitch, and short boundaries makes this stadium the most ideal venue for fantasy scoring in the whole IPL calendar.