Arun Jaitley Stadium (Delhi) Pitch Report, Results & Stats

Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium – Delhi

Located in the capital of the country, the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium holds a place of significance in the story of Indian cricket as it’s one of the oldest stadiums in the country and has hosted a lot of international cricket since it first hosted a Test in 1948, involving the hosts and West Indies. The stadium was known as Feroze Shah Kotla for the longest time before it was renamed in 2019 to honour India’s former Finance Minister and ex-President of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), Arun Jaitely who had passed away that year. The stadium was established in the 1880s and has hosted some historical matches since then in all formats. In the Indian T20 League, the stadium serves as the home ground of the team from Delhi, currently led by David Warner in the absence of their regular skipper Rishabh Pant. Delhi is one of those few teams that haven’t tasted success in the league and is still waiting for its first ever Indian T20 League title. Before the 2023 season, the team had lost more matches at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium than they had won. They had lost 38 matches and won 31 at this ground.

The Nature of the Pitch
The pitch has been kinder to batters over the years and it gets better as the match progresses, as is evidenced by the fact that in the last 11 matches (before the beginning of this edition of Indian T20 League), teams batting second won on eight occasions. Since 2019, more wickets have fallen to pacers but if the economy and strike rates are considered, spinners have been quite effective at the venue. The average first innings score has been 170 while the average first innings winning score has been 192 here in the Indian T20 League since 2019. The ground is also not one of the biggest in the country and coupled with the docile nature of the pitch, it only adds to a batter’s advantage and the bowler’s detriment.

History
The stadium derived its older name from the Fort Kotla that surrounds the stadium which was built by the 14th century ruler of Delhi Ferozeshah Tughluq. The stadium has been loved by the Indian batters over the years and has seen several batting feats achieved, but the biggest feat at this ground remains Anil Kumble’s 10 wickets in an innings achievement against Pakistan in 1999. For India, in Test cricket, the ground is a happy hunting one and the team hasn’t lost a single Test here since 1987. The stadium has hosted a number of World Cup fixtures in the 1987 edition, 1996 edition as well as the 2011 edition. However, it has never hosted a knockout fixture in the World Cup. Playing Tests here at the back end of the year has proved increasingly difficult for the players due to the presence of excessive fog and sometimes smog.

General Information about the Stadium
The stadium remains a regular fixture in India’s cricketing calendar and has a capacity of about 40,000. In 2017, the DDCA named four stands of the stadium after former India cricketers Bishan Singh Bedi, Mohinder Amarnath and Gautam Gambhir. The home team’s dressing room was named after Raman Lamba and the away dressing room after Prakash Bhandari. In 2019, a stand was named after then Indian captain Virat Kohli. In the early 2000s, a renovation of the stadium was carried out by the then DDCA President Arun Jaitley and ended up making the stadium a world class stadium for about 100 crores. The two bowling ends are called the Stadium End and Pavilion End. As of April 2023, it has hosted 37 Tests, 28 ODI and 13 T20Is.

Trivia
The stadium witnessed Anil Kumble’s famous 10/74 in an innings, against Pakistan in 1999. With these figures, Kumble became only the second bowler after Jim Laker to take all the ten wickets in an innings.

In 1983, Sunil Gavaskar scored his 29th Test ton at this venue, equalling Sir Donald Bradman’s record for the most number of centuries in Test cricket.

In 2005, Sachin Tendulkar went past Sunil Gavaskar’s record of 34 Test centuries, registering his 35th Test ton in the second Test against Sri Lanka at this venue.