T20 cricket has become immensely popular in the past few years due to its high-intensity and innovative gameplay. Batsmen in this format are known to take more risks and often go for the aerial route while batting. This is reflected in the pitches prepared by the organizers, which are made to be more batting-friendly. Here are five such venues that favor the batters.
1. Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore
The Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore has been a blessing for batsmen, with the average first innings score in T20Is here being a whopping 210. This is highlighted further by the fact that teams batting first in four out of the nine matches hosted here in the IPL have exceeded 170.
2. M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium provides one of the best batting conditions with its flat track. In 2013, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored a whopping 263/5 in just 20 overs against Pune Warriors on this ground. Subsequent matches here have seen multiple teams scoring more than 200 runs in T20 cricket games.
3. The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton
Taunton is known to be a very high-scoring venue for T20 cricket, having hosted 58 T20 matches with an average score of 177. The record for the highest T20 total set at this ground belongs to Somerset, who put up 229 runs during a match. India also played an ODI here against Sri Lanka during the 1999 World Cup, putting up an impressive 373/6.
4. Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
In Mumbai, the average first innings score is 167 for T20s, with teams exceeding 190 runs 20 times out of 104 games. Despite these impressive first innings scores, teams batting second have come away victorious in 56 of the 104 matches, suggesting that the wicket at this venue gets better for batsmen as the game progresses.
5. Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun
At the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, batters get a great advantage. The Afghan team made history in T20 cricket by scoring a record-breaking 278 runs against Ireland at this stadium. On average, the first innings score for T20Is hosted by Dehradun is 178.