Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: pitch report, capacity and records
Where Gaddafi Stadium is, what it holds after the 2025 rebuild, how the Lahore pitch has played in each format, and every Test, ODI, T20I and PSL record at the ground.
Sep 1, 2023 · Updated Sep 23, 2026
Gaddafi Stadium is Pakistan’s most-used international cricket ground: 42 Tests, 75 ODIs and 31 T20Is since it opened in Lahore in 1959, plus five Pakistan Super League finals. It is also home to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s head office. The short answer to the question most people arrive with, batting or bowling, is that it depends heavily on the year you ask. In 2025 the six ODI first innings played here averaged 324. When Australia came back in June 2026, they made 231 and 157.
This page covers where the ground is and how it got its name, the capacity question left open by the 2025 rebuild, what the pitch has done lately in each format, and the full Test, ODI, T20I and PSL records.
Gaddafi Stadium at a glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Opened | 1959, as Lahore Stadium |
| Owner | Pakistan Cricket Board (its head office is at the ground) |
| Ends | Jinnah End and Iqbal End |
| Home sides | Pakistan, Lahore Qalandars (PSL), Central Punjab |
| First Test | Pakistan v Australia, 21 November 1959 |
| First ODI | Pakistan v England, 13 January 1978 |
| First T20I | Pakistan v Zimbabwe, 22 May 2015 |
| Internationals hosted | 42 Tests, 75 ODIs, 31 T20Is |
Where is Gaddafi Stadium, and why is it called that?
The stadium sits in central Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. It was designed by the architect Nasreddin Murat-Khan and opened in 1959 under the name Lahore Stadium. In the 1970s it was renamed after Muammar Gaddafi, then the ruler of Libya, and the name has stayed ever since.
It was the first ground in Pakistan to get modern floodlights with their own standby generators, and it was rebuilt for the 1996 World Cup, when it staged the final. Ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy the two ends were renamed the Jinnah End and the Iqbal End, after Pakistan’s founder and its national poet.
What is the capacity of Gaddafi Stadium?
There is no single safe figure, so here are the ones in circulation. Before the 2024-25 rebuild the ground held about 27,000. The Pakistan Cricket Board then ran a renovation that it says took 117 days, adding roughly 10,000 new seats, and reports at the reopening put the capacity at 34,000 to 35,000. Other references still list it at a little over 27,000. We would treat 27,000 as the long-standing figure and the mid-30,000s as the post-renovation claim.
What is not in dispute is what changed for spectators. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif opened the rebuilt stadium on 7 February 2025, a day before Pakistan played New Zealand there. The stands were moved closer to the field, new LED floodlights and two large screens went in, and the tall steel fences in front of the enclosures came out, replaced by a dry moat, so the view from the lower tiers is no longer through a cage.
For comparison with the giants of the game, see our list of the biggest cricket stadiums in the world.
Gaddafi Stadium pitch report: batting or bowling?
Every format tells a slightly different story, and the recent numbers matter more than the old reputation.
ODIs
The rebuilt ground opened with a run feast. Across its six ODIs in February and March 2025, the side batting first made 330, 304, 351, 325, 273 and 362, an average of 324.2. Three of the six highest ODI totals ever made here came in that one month. Then the surface changed character completely. When Australia returned for two ODIs in June 2026, they were bowled out for 157 in the second after making 231 for nine in the first, and Pakistan needed 41.5 overs to chase 158. If you are reading an old pitch report that calls Lahore a guaranteed 300-plus track, it is out of date in both directions.
T20Is
Batting first has won 19 of the 31 T20Is here and chasing 12. The average first-innings score is 171.8. The trend in 2026 was one-sided: Pakistan batted first in all three T20Is against Australia that winter and won by 22, 90 and 111 runs, with Australia making 108 and 96 in the last two.
PSL
Over the league’s matches here, the split between batting first and chasing is almost exactly even. The seasons are not. In PSL 2023 the team batting first won eight of nine games at Gaddafi. In PSL 2026 the chasing side won 15 of the 21 that produced a result, and the two biggest successful PSL chases at the ground both came that spring.
Gaddafi Stadium Test records
Pakistan have played all 42 Tests at the ground, winning 13, losing seven and drawing 22. It has mostly been a batting ground. Pakistan’s 699 for five against India in 1989 is the highest total, and four other innings have passed 600.
| Record | Figure | By | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highest total | 699/5 | Pakistan v India | 1989 |
| Lowest total | 73 | New Zealand v Pakistan | 2002 |
| Highest score | 329 | Inzamam-ul-Haq v New Zealand | 2002 |
| Best innings bowling | 9/56 | Abdul Qadir v England | 1987 |
| Most runs | 1,125 | Mohammad Yousuf, 11 Tests | 1998-2007 |
| Most wickets | 56 | Imran Khan, 11 Tests | 1976-1990 |
The two ends of that 2002 Test sit on the same page of the record book. New Zealand’s 73 all out came in reply to Pakistan’s 643, the innings in which Inzamam made 329. Mohammad Yousuf’s lead in the runs table is narrow: Javed Miandad has 1,122 and Zaheer Abbas 1,093, and Zaheer’s average here is 99.36.
The most recent Test was in October 2025, when Pakistan beat South Africa by 93 runs. Before Australia’s visit in March 2022, the ground had gone 13 years without one.
Gaddafi Stadium ODI records
| Record | Figure | By | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highest total | 375/3 | Pakistan v Zimbabwe | 2015 |
| Highest successful chase | 356/5 | Australia v England | 2025 |
| Lowest total | 75 | Pakistan v Sri Lanka | 2009 |
| Highest score | 177 | Ibrahim Zadran v England | 2025 |
| Best bowling | 6/49 | Lance Klusener v Sri Lanka | 1997 |
| Most runs | 1,030 | Shoaib Malik, 23 matches | 2002-2015 |
| Most wickets | 23 | Wasim Akram, 18 matches | 1985-2000 |
The 2025 Champions Trophy rewrote the top of this list. Ben Duckett made 165 for England against Australia on 22 February, and Australia still chased 352 with 15 balls to spare, Josh Inglis finishing unbeaten on 120. Four days later Ibrahim Zadran made 177 for Afghanistan against England, which is now the highest individual ODI score at the ground. New Zealand’s 362 for six against South Africa in the semi-final is second only to Pakistan’s 375.
Among current bowlers, Shaheen Shah Afridi is climbing quickly: 16 wickets in six ODIs here at an average of 18.68, against Wasim’s 23 in 18.
Gaddafi Stadium T20I records
| Record | Figure | By | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highest total | 209/3 | England v Pakistan | 2022 |
| Lowest total | 94 | New Zealand v Pakistan | 2023 |
| Highest score | 107* | Mohammad Haris v Bangladesh | 2025 |
| Best bowling | 5/17 | Dwaine Pretorius v Pakistan | 2021 |
| Most runs | 877 | Babar Azam, 26 matches | 2017-2026 |
| Most wickets | 21 | Shadab Khan, 23 matches | 2017-2026 |
Pakistan’s 207 for six against Australia on 1 February 2026 is the highest total by the home side, two runs short of England’s record. Mohammad Haris’s unbeaten 107 came from 46 balls, and Mohammad Nawaz’s five for 18 in that 2026 win over Australia is the best by a Pakistan bowler here.
PSL at Gaddafi Stadium
Gaddafi is Lahore Qalandars’ home and has hosted five of the league’s finals. The Qalandars won three of them in front of their own crowd.
| Final | Winner | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Peshawar Zalmi | 58 runs |
| 2022 | Lahore Qalandars | 42 runs |
| 2023 | Lahore Qalandars | 1 run |
| 2025 | Lahore Qalandars | 6 wickets |
| 2026 | Peshawar Zalmi | 5 wickets |
The highest PSL total at the ground is Multan Sultans’ 245 for three against Quetta Gladiators in 2022, a game they won by 117 runs. The biggest successful chase is also Multan’s: 227 for four against Hyderabad Kingsmen on 1 April 2026. For every season’s champion, see our PSL winners list.
Matches that shaped the ground
The 1996 World Cup final
On 17 March 1996, Sri Lanka beat Australia by seven wickets under the Lahore lights, with Aravinda de Silva making an unbeaten 107. It is still the only World Cup final Pakistan has hosted.
The 2009 attack and the years without cricket
On 3 March 2009 the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked near Liberty roundabout on its way to the ground for the second Test, and several players were injured. International cricket in Pakistan stopped. Zimbabwe’s tour in May 2015 brought it back to Lahore, and the ground’s first T20I was played on that trip.
The 2025 reopening
The rebuilt stadium hosted three group games and a semi-final in the Champions Trophy. Most of the big numbers in the ODI records above come from those four games.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gaddafi Stadium a batting or bowling pitch? Historically a batting ground in Tests and ODIs. The 2025 ODIs averaged 324 in the first innings, but the June 2026 ODIs were low-scoring. In T20Is, batting first has won 19 of 31.
What is the highest score at Gaddafi Stadium? In Tests, Pakistan’s 699 for five against India in 1989. In ODIs, Pakistan’s 375 for three against Zimbabwe in 2015. In T20Is, England’s 209 for three in 2022.
Who has scored the most runs at Gaddafi Stadium? Mohammad Yousuf in Tests (1,125), Shoaib Malik in ODIs (1,030) and Babar Azam in T20Is (877).
How many people does Gaddafi Stadium hold? About 27,000 before the rebuild. Post-renovation figures of 34,000 to 35,000 have been reported, while some references still give just over 27,000.
Pakistan’s other Test venue in Punjab has its own story: see the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium ODI records. Across the border, compare the Dharamshala stadium, Narendra Modi Stadium and Wankhede Stadium pages.