14 Venues, 216 Matches, 6 Metrics — The Complete IPL Ground Guide

The IPL's 14 active venues span a 33.0-run range in average innings totals — from Mullanpur's 159.2 to Visakhapatnam's 193.6. Every ground has a statistical fingerprint that shapes team strategy, squad construction, and match outcomes. This is the complete ranking across six metrics that matter most.

Data covers IPL 2023, 2024, and 2025 — 216 matches total.

1. Average Total Per Innings

The single most important venue metric. How many runs does a typical innings produce?

Rank	Venue	Avg Total	vs League
1	Dharamsala	195.0	+14.9
2	Visakhapatnam	193.6	+13.6
3	Delhi	192.2	+12.1
4	Hyderabad	187.2	+7.2
5	Mohali	185.6	+5.5
6	Eden Gardens	185.4	+5.4
7	Ahmedabad	185.3	+5.2
8	Chinnaswamy	184.4	+4.4
9	Wankhede	181.3	+1.2
10	Jaipur	179.3	-0.8
11	Lucknow	171.9	-8.2
12	Guwahati	168.1	-12.0
13	Chepauk	161.0	-19.1
14	Mullanpur	159.2	-20.9

League Average: 180.1

The gap between the top tier (Delhi, Dharamsala, Visakhapatnam at 192+) and the bottom tier (Chepauk, Mullanpur at sub-161) is equivalent to adding or removing 6 overs of scoring from a typical innings. Venue selection alone can swing expected totals by 30+ runs.

2. Bat-First Win Percentage

Which grounds reward setting totals versus chasing?

Rank	Venue	Bat 1st Win%	Chase Win%
1	Dharamsala	80%	20%
2	Delhi	58%	42%
3	Ahmedabad	54%	46%
4	Chinnaswamy	53%	47%
5	Eden Gardens	52%	43%
6	Mullanpur	50%	50%
7	Visakhapatnam	50%	50%
8	Jaipur	47%	53%
9	Hyderabad	44%	56%
10	Wankhede	43%	57%
11	Lucknow	43%	57%
12	Chepauk	42%	58%

Dharamsala's 80% bat-first win rate (4 of 5 matches) is extreme but comes from a small sample. Among major venues, Delhi (58%) is the strongest bat-first ground. The chase-friendly venues — Chepauk (58%), Wankhede (57%), Lucknow (57%) — share a common trait: evening conditions (dew, flatter pitch) favor the second innings.

3. Six Rate

Where does raw power produce the most return?

Rank	Venue	Six%
1	Visakhapatnam	9.9%
2	Dharamsala	8.8%
3	Eden Gardens	8.7%
4	Chinnaswamy	8.6%
5	Delhi	8.2%
6	Wankhede	8.1%
7	Ahmedabad	8.0%
8	Hyderabad	7.7%
9	Jaipur	6.9%
10	Mohali	6.6%
11	Mullanpur	6.1%
12	Lucknow	5.9%
13	Guwahati	5.3%
14	Chepauk	5.2%

The spread between Visakhapatnam (9.9%) and Chepauk (5.2%) means a power hitter is nearly twice as likely to clear the boundary at the top venue compared to the bottom. This is a squad-construction signal: power hitters gain disproportionate value at venues where clearing the fence is physically easier.

4. Dot Ball Percentage

Where do bowlers create the most pressure?

Rank	Venue	Dot%
1	Mullanpur	35.2%
2	Wankhede	34.9%
3	Guwahati	34.4%
4	Chepauk	34.2%
4	Eden Gardens	34.2%
4	Dharamsala	34.2%
7	Lucknow	33.6%
8	Chinnaswamy	32.9%
9	Delhi	32.5%
10	Mohali	32.2%
11	Hyderabad	32.0%
12	Ahmedabad	31.1%
13	Jaipur	30.8%

Eden Gardens' presence near the top is revealing. Kolkata has both a high dot rate (34.2%) and high scoring (185.4 average) — confirming that Eden Gardens is a feast-or-famine venue where batters either blast boundaries or miss entirely. Jaipur (30.8%) is the opposite: steady scoring, few dots, few boundaries.

5. Wickets Per Match

Where do bowlers take the most wickets?

Rank	Venue	Wkts/Match
1	Visakhapatnam	14.5
2	Mullanpur	14.3
3	Dharamsala	13.4
4	Chepauk	12.9
5	Guwahati	12.8
6	Delhi	12.7
7	Chinnaswamy	12.5
8	Ahmedabad	12.4
9	Wankhede	12.2
10	Eden Gardens	12.0
10	Lucknow	12.0
10	Mohali	12.0
13	Hyderabad	11.1
14	Jaipur	10.1

Mullanpur and Visakhapatnam produce 40%+ more wickets per match than Jaipur. This has direct fantasy cricket and squad balance implications: at high-wicket venues, the fifth bowler option and bowling all-rounders gain relative value. At Jaipur, batting depth matters more.

6. Death-Over Run Rate

Where does the endgame produce the most fireworks?

Rank	Venue	Death RR
1	Eden Gardens	11.82
2	Hyderabad	11.30
3	Delhi	11.24
4	Chinnaswamy	10.88
5	Ahmedabad	10.86
6	Jaipur	10.82
7	Dharamsala	10.58
8	Mohali	10.56
9	Mullanpur	10.42
10	Visakhapatnam	10.40
11	Lucknow	10.22
12	Wankhede	10.17
13	Guwahati	9.97
14	Chepauk	9.91

Eden Gardens' 11.82 death RR is 1.91 RPO above Chepauk's 9.91 — that's 9.55 extra runs in the death phase. Death-over bowling specialists (Bumrah, Arshdeep, Nortje) gain enormous value at high-death-RR venues, and death-overs failures are punished more severely.

The Venue Archetypes

The data reveals four distinct venue archetypes:

Run Factories (Delhi, Eden Gardens, Ahmedabad, Chinnaswamy): High totals, boundary-heavy, elevated death scoring. Teams need deep batting and elite death bowling.

Chase Havens (Wankhede, Chepauk, Lucknow, Hyderabad): Dew or conditions favor the second innings. Win the toss, bowl first, and trust your batting lineup to chase.

Bowler's Paradises (Mullanpur, Guwahati, Chepauk): Low scoring, high dot rates, frequent collapses. Squad construction matters more than individual talent.

Neutral Grounds (Jaipur, Mohali, Visakhapatnam): Moderate scoring, balanced toss outcomes, limited venue-specific edges. These grounds reward the better team rather than the better venue strategy.

Understanding which archetype a ground belongs to is the first step toward venue-adjusted team selection — and the teams that get this right gain 2-3 wins per season from venue intelligence alone.