India notches the topmost position in the list with 52 cricket stadiums when it comes to cricket venues. The big Venues like Eden Gardens, Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Wankhede Stadium & Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), Pune are included in the list of biggest arenas in the world. Though England is the mother of cricket, this game is flourishing in India and other Asian countries.
Indian cricket is the biggest asset for the International Council for Cricket (ICC) as it brings big money and branding to the game. Indian Premier League is a humongous example of that; the earnings in the last edition of IPL was hovering upto $49,000.
Though players are a critical asset, it is the ultimate brand that IPL built in the last decade, which is paying off now in several aspects. The venues are an essential part of the process as the whole proceedings of the game happens on it. Each franchise in IPL has its venue for exploiting the home conditions before the advent of Covid-19. Eden Gardens is the world-renowned Indian cricket venue, as it is a storehouse of many historical moments of cricket.
So, let’s take a look at a few stadiums in India which has hosted the most number of IPL encounters.
#1 M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bangalore) – 74
This is the home ground of Royal Challengers Bangalore, alloted in 2008. This venue has hosted 74 games which is the most IPL games in 14 years. It’s not so prominent in circumference but designed so that both batters & bowlers could have even-steven chances. Virat Kohli, the former skipper of RCB, has said that this venue is his favourite cricket stadium worldwide. M Chinnaswamy is designated as a unique venue by the controlling body of Indian cricket ‘BCCI’.
#2 Eden Gardens (Kolkata) – 70
The home ground of Kolkata Knight Riders has counted at No. 2 with the IPL game number of 70. It could be said that this is the most notorious venue in India. Sourav Ganguly got the first stand of his name at Eden Gardens, as the Bengal Tiger had played his whole life at this venue. Gautam Gambhir has served this venue for the longest time as a skipper of the home franchise for 7 long years and contributed most to its popularity.
#3 Arun Jaitley Stadium (Delhi) – 67
Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, later named after the former finance minister Arun Jaitley, has hosted the third most IPL games with 67. The nature of the pitch here has made the games more crunchy and intriguing during the IPL. Delhi Capitals enjoy the home privilege of such a wonderfully carved Cricket stadium. No one can forget the magnificent centuries of David Warner, Virender Sehwag & Kevin Pietersen at this venue.
#4 Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai) – 66
Wankhede Stadium is the 3rd most iconic stadium after Lord’s Cricket Ground and Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). In total, 66 matches of IPL have been played on it till the moment. This is the home of the most successful franchise of the Indian Premier League, “Mumbai Indians”. Sachin has smacked his only ton of IPL on this lucky venue. The red soil pitch, which offers extra bounce and turns, is the speciality of this venue. Very few venues in India fabricate their pitch with red soil, which the pitch curators usually avoid. What’s more special about Wankhede stadium? Read here.
#5 Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium (Hyderabad) – 56
Rajiv Gandhi International stadium comes down the list at no 5, which served 56 IPL games in 14 years of its journey. Sunrisers Hyderabad has the authority of this venue in the IPL. This venue’s rough and slow surface put it in favour of SRH due to their suited bowling line-up to such playing circumstances. It doesn’t host as many International encounters, but in domestic tournaments like IPL, this venue stays very noteworthy.
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