IPL pitch report: batting or bowling at every ground

How to read today's pitch report in five minutes

The pitch report on match day — given by the broadcaster about 30 minutes before the toss — tells you how this surface looks today. The table above tells you how the ground has played over many seasons. Use both:

1. Start with the ground's lean. At chasing grounds such as Wankhede, Eden Gardens and Sawai Mansingh, captains who win the toss usually bowl first, and the side batting second wins more often.
2. Listen for three words: grass, cracks, dry. Grass helps seam bowlers early. Cracks and a dry, dusty surface help spinners, especially in the second innings. A hard, flat, even-coloured pitch means runs.
3. Check the weather and the start time. Dew in evening games makes the ball slippery and batting second easier. Afternoon starts usually have no dew, so the pitch slows down for the side chasing.
4. Wait for the toss and the playing XIs. Then shift your picks towards the side the conditions favour — the chasing top order at a dew-heavy ground, the defending side's spinners on a dry pitch.
5. Keep at least one player from each side's top three. The ground's lean is a tendency, not a rule; a balanced team still scores if the result goes the other way.

For the full routine — weather, venue size, day and night games — read Pitch and conditions: a five-minute pre-match read. To see how players turn runs and wickets into points, see the Drem11 points system.