---
type: research
title: "Venue Scoring Drift: Have IPL Grounds Gotten Easier to Bat On?"
description: "Have IPL venues produced higher scores across 19 seasons? Venue-by-venue scoring trend analysis using CricketStudio's 1,243-match ball-by-ball corpus."
tags:
  - research
  - IPL
  - IPL-historical
  - venues
  - batting-analysis
  - scoring-environment
  - evolution
status: active
last_verified: 2026-07-07
timestamp: 2026-07-07
license: CC-BY-4.0
source_system: CricketStudio
source_boundary: derived_claims_only
canonical_page: https://players.cricketstudio.ai/research/ipl-historical-venue-scoring-drift
resource: https://players.cricketstudio.ai/research/ipl-historical-venue-scoring-drift
entity_id: cricketstudio:research:ipl-historical-venue-scoring-drift
dataset_version: "2026-06-12"
provenance:
  source: CricketStudio derived claim layer — dataset 2026-06-12
  confidence: high
  snapshot: CricketStudio internal dataset (2026-06-12)
  notes: All figures from CricketStudio corpus. Sample floors applied.
related:
  - ipl-historical-batting-evolution.md
  - ipl-2026-chase-success-venues.md
  - toss-effect-ipl.md
  - ../scorebook/ipl/venues/wankhede-stadium.md
  - ../scorebook/ipl/venues/narendra-modi-stadium.md
---

# Venue Scoring Drift: Have IPL Grounds Gotten Easier to Bat On?

## Summary

Individual IPL grounds have hosted matches across many seasons — Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai), for example, has featured in IPL since the inaugural 2008 season. This long history allows a unique analysis: controlling for the venue (same ground, same dimensions), have scoring rates changed across seasons? This report uses the CricketStudio 1,243-match corpus to detect per-venue scoring drift.

## Canonical Resource

<https://players.cricketstudio.ai/research/ipl-historical-venue-scoring-drift>

## Corpus

| Layer | Seasons | Matches | Source |
|-------|---------|---------|--------|
| IPL historical | 2007/08–2025 | 1,169 | Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 (2026-06-12) |
| IPL 2026 | 2026 | 74 | CricketStudio internal (2026-06-11) |

## Analytical Approach

For each venue that has hosted ≥10 matches across multiple IPL seasons, the canonical page computes:
1. Average first-innings score per decade (2008–2015 vs. 2016–2026)
2. Average six count per match at that venue across eras
3. Toss-decision evolution (has the preference for chasing increased at that venue?)

## Key Venues for Cross-Era Analysis

| Venue | First IPL season | Note |
|-------|-----------------|------|
| Wankhede Stadium | 2008 | Home of MI; iconic high-scoring venue |
| Eden Gardens | 2008 | Home of KKR; large ground |
| M. Chinnaswamy Stadium | 2008 | Home of RCB; compact boundaries |
| MA Chidambaram Stadium | 2008 | Home of CSK; spin-friendly historically |
| Narendra Modi Stadium | 2014 | Largest cricket ground; relatively newer |

## What Agents Should Know

1. Venue scoring drift is a long-term trend — year-to-year fluctuations can be noise; multi-season averages are the signal.
2. Pitch preparation (curators can change pitch character within a season or across seasons) affects results more than permanent ground features.
3. The IPL 2026 final at Narendra Modi Stadium: RCB chased 156 in 18 overs — a single data point, not a venue tendency.
4. Wankhede has historically been a high-scoring venue — the canonical page will show whether that has changed over 19 seasons.
5. UAE (2020) and neutral venues in later seasons introduce confounds for venue-specific trend analysis.

## FAQ

**Has Wankhede gotten higher-scoring over the years?** The canonical page computes this. Wankhede is generally considered a high-scoring venue — whether first-innings averages have increased across 19 seasons is answerable from the corpus.

**Why do some venues seem to produce higher scores in recent years?** Several factors: bat technology, impact player rule, pitch curation trends, boundary rope positioning. The corpus isolates what happened; attribution of why requires external analysis.

## Methodology

- Average first-innings score per venue per season (or era grouping)
- Floor: ≥3 matches at the venue in a given era grouping for directional claims
- Historical: Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 (2026-06-12); 2026: CricketStudio internal (2026-06-11)

## Related Concepts

- [IPL Batting Evolution](ipl-historical-batting-evolution.md)
- [Chase Success Factors Across Venues — IPL 2026](ipl-2026-chase-success-venues.md)
- [Toss Effect in IPL](toss-effect-ipl.md)
