The Narendra Modi Stadium has witnessed some high-scoring fixtures in this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and things may not be different when the playoffs get underway here on Tuesday.
Of the six games that were played at the venue so far – the last fixture between Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders was abandoned without a ball being bowled – teams breached the 200-run mark on three occasions, whereas the first couple of games of the season had an average score of 168.
With both Qualifier 1 and the Eliminator set to be played on the centre wicket, which is predominantly a red-soil surface, there will be bounce, and the bowlers need to make an impact early on before the batters take charge.
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A seven-day gap between the last league game at the venue and the playoffs have given the groundsmen some time to get things in shape despite extreme weather conditions prevailing over the city with the temperatures soaring to 45 degrees.
While the average first-innings IPL score is 174, last year, Shubman Gill’s 60-ball 19 guided Gujarat Titans to 233 for three in Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians, which remains the highest score at this venue.
With the batters dominating the tournament this time around, it needs to be seen whether any of the four teams can breach the 250-run mark at the world’s largest cricket stadium.
No rain forecast
Earlier this week, Gujarat Titans’ last home match against KKR was washed out, but over the next few days, there is no forecast of rain. According to AccuWeather, Ahmedabad will be sunny with the temperatures rising to 44 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, when KKR plays Qualifier 1 against either Sunrisers Hyderabad or Rajasthan Royals.
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A similar weather is expected the following day as well when Royal Challengers Bengaluru features in the Eliminator.
While some tickets for Qualifier 1 are still available on PayTM Insider – the official ticketing app for the tournament – the second lot of tickets for RCB’s eliminator is sold out.
According to a message displayed on the app, ‘more match tickets will be out soon’ for Wednesday’s fixture.
Since there will be back-to-back games, the Gujarat Cricket Association has earmarked the Gujarat College Ground as one of the practice facilities in case teams featuring in the Eliminator want to train ahead of their game.
“Since the main stadium will be out of bounds due to the Qualifier One on Tuesday, the other two teams can train at the College Ground in case they want. We have already allotted two slots and once we hear from the teams and the BCCI, we will act accordingly,” a senior official said.