IPL 2025 Venue Analysis: Vizag A Great Batting Deck With Some Assistance For Pacers

Visakhapatnam is the Delhi Capitals' (DC) new second home ground, thanks to the roots of their team owners, the GMR group, who come from this part of the country. It will host the first two home fixtures for DC: against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on March 24th (Monday), and against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on March 30th (Sunday). 

The venue has hosted many T20 games over the last calendar year, including a portion of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy. Teams have largely chosen to bowl first after winning the toss in Vizag. 170+ totals have been regular, with targets upwards of 200 having chances of being defended. 

Pacers have had a terrific time in Vizag, taking a wicket almost every 15 deliveries. Even though the economy is on the higher side, the impact of taking 65% of the wickets evens it out.

PACERS HAVE DONE WELL ACROSS PHASES

Vizag has been a great ground for the pacers over the last calendar year, as they have found major success at this venue. They bowling SR of 14.9 is the best for pacers at a venue in India over the last 15 months. 

Pacers were excellent in the two games in Vizag during IPL 2024. They bowled all 24 overs of powerplay across the four innings, taking seven wickets at an economy of 9.7. The batters bludgeoned both pacers and spinners in the slog overs, resulting in the economy rate clocking 10 and above for both bowling types. 

In the slog overs, pacers almost bowled all the overs, conceding at 12.1 per over and striking every 12th delivery. Spinners had very little help from the pitch, making their contributions negligible.

LEFT-ARM SPINNERS HAD A TOUGH TIME IN IPL 2024

The left-arm spinners did not get any help from the Vizag pitch. They were the least impactful ones, contributing only two wickets at a horrible economy of 10.3, striking once in four overs. This is not a good sign, as the likes of Axar Patel, Shahbaz Ahmad, and M Siddharth will be expected to better this record in the upcoming games. 

There have been some excellent batting performances in Vizag in T20s. Among the three teams that will be playing in Vizag in IPL 2025, Karun Nair has scored the most runs, 484 runs in 15 games, with four 50+ scores. KL Rahul is the fourth highest run scorer. But he has a terrible record, managing just 112 runs in nine innings, averaging 14 and striking at 88. 

Adam Zampa has had a terrific record in Vizag. The Aussie leggie has taken 11 wickets in four games, with six of them coming in the 2016 game against SRH when he was representing RPS. His 6/19 is still the best figures for a spinner in IPL. DC’s captain, Axar Patel, has failed to make an impact at this venue, taking just five wickets in eight games, striking at 33.6.