Raipur Cricket Stadium: pitch report, capacity and records at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh ground

Raipur Cricket Stadium is the third-largest cricket ground in India by capacity and one of the least used, which is why its record book reads unlike anywhere else on the circuit. Officially the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, it sits in the planned township of Nava Raipur in Chhattisgarh, holds about 65,000 people and has staged just twelve senior men’s matches across internationals, the IPL and the Champions League since it opened in 2008. Nine of those twelve were won by the side batting second. In October 2026 it added its first women’s internationals, three T20Is in which India beat Zimbabwe 3-0, and the last of them produced the highest T20 total the ground has seen. Here is the ground in full: the specification, what the pitch actually does, and every record it holds.

Raipur Cricket Stadium at a glance

The ground is about 21 kilometres out of the old city, in Sector 3 of the planned capital township. It belongs to the Government of Chhattisgarh and is run by the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh, which makes it one of the few major Indian venues not controlled by a state association that owns its own land.

Detail	Raipur Cricket Stadium
Official name	Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium
Location	Sector 3, Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh
Capacity	65,000
Opened	11 September 2008, built at a cost of about 145 crore rupees
Owner and operator	Government of Chhattisgarh; Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh
Ends	North End and South End
Playing area	180 by 160 yards, boundaries averaging above 80 metres and reaching about 84
Floodlights	Yes, all formats
First ODI	21 January 2023, India v New Zealand
First men’s T20I	1 December 2023, India v Australia
Women’s internationals	3 T20Is, India v Zimbabwe, 16 to 20 October 2026
Tests hosted	None
IPL matches	8, as a second home for Delhi (2013, 2015, 2016) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (2026)

Only two grounds in the country seat more people: the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad at 132,000 and Eden Gardens at 68,000. Raipur has hosted two ODIs. Eden Gardens has hosted more than thirty.

Raipur Cricket Stadium pitch report: what the surface actually does

The square is laid on black soil, which grips and holds rather than skidding on, and the boundaries are long by modern Indian standards. For most of the ground’s short top-level life that combination made it a bowler’s venue. Across the six IPL matches Delhi played here between 2013 and 2016, the first-innings average was 146. Nobody passed 165.

That number is now out of date, and anyone quoting it is quoting a decade-old pitch. When the IPL came back in May 2026 the first-innings average across the two matches was 179. Five months before that the ground had staged an ODI in which 720 runs were scored in a day. The soil has not changed, but the outfield, the drainage work and the way modern teams bat have.

The one read that has survived every era of men’s cricket here is the toss. The side batting second has won nine of the twelve senior men’s matches played at the ground, and since the IPL left in 2016 only one of the eight men’s matches has been won by a team setting a target. Captains noticed: in the six men’s matches since January 2023 every toss-winner chose to field, and five of the six went on to win.

The women’s series is the first evidence against that habit. Zimbabwe won the toss and batted in the second game, and India won it and batted in the third, made 216 for 7 and won by 92 runs. Across all 15 senior matches the chase still leads 11 to 4, so fielding first remains the percentage call. It is just no longer the only one anyone makes.

Pitch read	Number
Won batting second, all senior men’s matches	9 of 12
Men’s matches won batting first since 2016	1 of 8
IPL first-innings average, 2013 to 2016	146
IPL first-innings average, 2026	179
Men’s T20I first-innings average	191 (two matches)
Women’s T20I first-innings average	144 (three matches)
Women’s T20Is won batting second	2 of 3
Men’s toss-winners who chose to field since January 2023	6 of 6

Two caveats worth stating plainly, because most pitch reports for this ground do not. The sample is tiny, so a single high-scoring night moves the averages a long way. And the ground has never staged a Test, so there is no red-ball evidence at all about how the surface behaves after two days.

Highest and lowest totals at Raipur Cricket Stadium

Record	Score	Match	Date
Highest total, any format	362/6	South Africa v India, ODI	3 December 2025
Highest first-innings total	358/5	India v South Africa, ODI	3 December 2025
Highest T20 total	216/7	India Women v Zimbabwe Women, T20I	20 October 2026
Highest men’s T20 total	209/3	India v New Zealand, T20I	23 January 2026
Highest IPL total	194/4	Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Kolkata Knight Riders	13 May 2026
Lowest ODI total	108 all out	New Zealand v India	21 January 2023
Lowest IPL total	119/6	Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils	12 May 2015
Lowest T20I total	102/8	Zimbabwe Women v India Women	18 October 2026

Note what is missing from that table. Nearly every records page for this ground still leads with 206 for 5, made by Northern Districts against the Cape Cobras in the 2014 Champions League, as the highest T20 total at the venue. It was, for eleven years. Then India and New Zealand both passed it on the same January night in 2026, New Zealand with 208 for 6 and India with 209 for 3 in reply. That lasted nine months. On 20 October 2026 India’s women made 216 for 7 against Zimbabwe, with Harmanpreet Kaur unbeaten on 91, and the ground’s highest T20 total now belongs to a women’s side.

The 359-run chase that rewrote the record book

On 3 December 2025 Raipur staged the second ODI of South Africa’s tour, and in one afternoon the ground gained a record book. India batted first and made 358 for 5, built on Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 105 off 83 balls and Virat Kohli’s 102 off 93, with stand-in captain KL Rahul adding an unbeaten 66 off 43 at the death. On a ground whose previous highest ODI total was 111 for 2, that looked decisive.

It was not. Aiden Markram made 110 off 98 and South Africa got home in 49.2 overs at 362 for 6, Matthew Breetzke contributing 68 and Dewald Brevis hitting five sixes in a 34-ball 54 before Corbin Bosch finished it with 29 not out from 15 balls. It is South Africa’s highest successful ODI chase away from home, it equalled the record for the highest successful chase against India in an ODI, matching Australia’s 359 at Mohali in 2019, and it is among the ten biggest chases in the format’s history. The 720 runs scored across the two innings are the most in any India versus South Africa ODI.

The wider point for the venue is what it did to the ground’s numbers overnight. Before that match Raipur had produced exactly one century in an international, IPL or Champions League fixture. That afternoon produced three.

Highest individual scores at Raipur Cricket Stadium

Score	Batter	Match	Date
110 off 98	Aiden Markram	South Africa v India, ODI	3 December 2025
105 not out off 60	Virat Kohli	Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL	13 May 2026
105 off 83	Ruturaj Gaikwad	India v South Africa, ODI	3 December 2025
102 off 93	Virat Kohli	India v South Africa, ODI	3 December 2025
101 not out off 49	Kane Williamson	Northern Districts v Cape Cobras, CLT20	19 September 2014

Williamson’s hundred was the first century of any kind at the ground and the fastest in Champions League history at the time. It then stood alone for eleven years. Kohli is the only batter with two hundreds at the venue, in two formats, five months apart.

In T20 internationals the mark is now Harmanpreet Kaur’s 91 not out off 41 balls against Zimbabwe on 20 October 2026, with ten fours and five sixes. The men’s best is Suryakumar Yadav’s 82 not out off 37 balls against New Zealand in January 2026, made alongside Ishan Kishan’s 76 off 32 in a chase that began at 6 for 2 and finished with 28 balls to spare.

Best bowling figures at Raipur Cricket Stadium

No bowler has taken five wickets in an international or IPL match at the venue. The best return is Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 4 for 23 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Mumbai Indians on 10 May 2026, in a game where Corbin Bosch went one better on economy with 4 for 26 for the losing side. Between them they took eight wickets on a night when the ground was supposed to be flat.

Figures	Bowler	Format	Date
4/23	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	IPL	10 May 2026
4/26	Corbin Bosch	IPL	10 May 2026
3/16	Axar Patel	T20I	1 December 2023
3/18	Mohammed Shami	ODI	21 January 2023

Shami’s spell is the one the ground is still known for. New Zealand were bowled out for 108 in the venue’s first international, and India knocked the runs off in 20.2 overs. It remains the only time a side has been dismissed in an ODI here.

IPL records at Raipur Cricket Stadium

Raipur has hosted eight IPL matches in two distinct spells. Delhi used it as a second home in 2013, 2015 and 2016, playing two games here in each of those seasons and winning four of the six. Royal Challengers Bengaluru took it on as a second home in 2026 and won both of theirs.

IPL record at Raipur	Detail
Matches	8 (2013, 2015, 2016, 2026)
Won batting first / chasing	2 / 6
Highest total	194/4, RCB v KKR, 2026
Lowest total	119/6, CSK v Delhi Daredevils, 2015
Most runs	David Warner, 207
Most wickets	Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 6
Highest score	Virat Kohli, 105 not out, 2026

The two 2026 games are worth separating out, because they are the only evidence of what the ground does with a modern IPL batting line-up. On 10 May, Mumbai made 166 for 7 and RCB got there with two wickets in hand, Krunal Pandya top-scoring with 73 off 46. Three days later Kolkata posted 192 for 4 through Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s 71 off 46, and Kohli’s hundred, his ninth in the IPL, took RCB home with four balls left.

Women’s T20Is at Raipur Cricket Stadium

The ground’s first women’s internationals came in a three-match T20I series between India and Zimbabwe in October 2026, the first time the two sides had met in women’s international cricket. India won all three, and the series went from a scare on Friday to a rout on Tuesday.

Date	Batting first	Batting second	Result	Top score	Best bowling
16 October 2026	Zimbabwe 114/5	India 116/6 (15.4 overs)	India won by 4 wickets	Deepti Sharma 49	Nyasha Gwanzura 3/18
18 October 2026	Zimbabwe 102/8	India 104/1 (8.5 overs)	India won by 9 wickets	Shafali Verma 55 off 25	Niki Prasad 2/7
20 October 2026	India 216/7	Zimbabwe 124/7	India won by 92 runs	Harmanpreet Kaur 91 not out off 41	Nandani Sharma 3/18

The opener was the closest of the three. Chasing 115, India were 19 for 4 inside four overs, and it took an 82-run stand between Deepti Sharma and the debutant Niki Prasad to win it. Two days later Zimbabwe could manage only 102 for 8, and Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana knocked the runs off in 8.5 overs, Mandhana finishing on 47 not out. Then India batted first for the first time in the series and made 216 for 7, Shafali hitting 69 off 37 before Harmanpreet took over.

The averages need reading with care. Three matches against a Zimbabwe side playing its first internationals against India is a small sample, and the first-innings average of 144 is pulled down by Zimbabwe’s two totals. What the series does show is a pitch that played slow in the first two games (Nandani Sharma’s four overs in the opener cost 11) and had no trouble with 216 by the third night. Our reports from the first T20I and the second have the detail.

Has Raipur Cricket Stadium hosted a Test match?

No. The ground has never staged a Test and is not on the current rotation for one. It became India’s fiftieth international venue when it hosted its first ODI in January 2023, and its men’s international schedule since has been limited to two ODIs and two T20Is. Women’s international cricket arrived in October 2026 with three T20Is against Zimbabwe, and the ground has not staged a women’s ODI or Test. Domestically it has been Chhattisgarh’s home ground since 2009 and has staged Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy cricket throughout, along with the 2014 Champions League leg, the Road Safety World Series in 2021 and 2022, and a Celebrity Cricket League round in 2023.

The nights that made the ground

Four matches carry the venue’s short history. The first is 21 January 2023, when it finally became an international ground and Shami dismantled New Zealand for 108. The second is 1 December 2023, the T20I against Australia and still the only men’s match at Raipur since 2016 won by the team batting first, Axar Patel’s 3 for 16 defending 174. The third is the South Africa chase of December 2025, which gave the ground a genuine world-class occasion. The fourth is Kohli’s hundred against Kolkata in May 2026, which brought the IPL back to a stadium that had waited a decade for it. If a fifth belongs on the list, it is Harmanpreet’s 91 not out in October 2026, the innings behind the highest T20 total the ground has produced.

For more of the numbers behind the formats, see our guides to the biggest T20 cricket records and ODI cricket records, or the full list of Virat Kohli’s cricket records. For other grounds in the same series, we have profiles of the Holkar Stadium in Indore, the highest-scoring ODI ground in the country, and Eden Gardens.

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