The beautiful country of Sri Lanka has plenty of wonderful cricket grounds, and some of the greatest cricket matches have been held on this ground. One of the more notable and quite recently made grounds compared to the other ones is the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, located in the beautiful hilly city of Kandy, which is the 8th test venue of the country. The Pallekele has hosted over 70 international games on all three formats, and as the days proceed, there will be more and more, given how balanced the pitches are.
Similar to the grounds of the Sylhet Cricket Stadium, Napier Cricket Stadium, or the Capetown Cricket Stadium, the Pallekele Cricket Ground also has natural grass seating arrangements, which complements the hilly, green nature of the City. As we proceed, we will be discussing the features of the grounds along with some famous pitch reports.
Facilities of Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
Established: 2009
Capacity: 35,000
Ends: Hunnasgiriya End, Rikillagaskada End
Ground Metrics: 80 m long, 75 m wide
Curator: Asitha Wijesinghe
Total International Matches: 74 matches
Flood Lights: Yes
The Pallekele International Stadium covers every aspect that is a requirement for the players as well as the fans. The name comes from the Suburb of Kandy, Pallekele. The stadium is also known as the Muttiah Muralitharan Stadium, honoring him after his 800 wickets in Test Cricket.
The stadium has everything to offer: floodlights that were planted a year after its launch—a gymnasium, players’ conditioning facilities, including medical and massage zones, and recreational facilities. As for practice nets for warm-ups for the players, there are around 16-17 net pitches for practice outside the ground.
Now, as for the fans, the stadium consists of quite spacious and comfy seats along with a separate aisle for grass banks where the players can enjoy nature and the match. And, as for the VIP guests and people who prefer privacy, the stadium holds four event suites, 16 corporate boxes, and excellent catering services to take care of the VIPs as luxuriously as possible.
Some of the renowned matches we have witnessed
Personally, my favorite match at the Pallekele was the Australia vs Sri Lanka T20i match. It was the final T20i match of the series, and Australia had already won the first two matches, but Sri Lanka had intentions to finish the series on a high courtesy of Dasun Shanaka.
Dasun Shanaka’s colossal hitting, his 54 off 25 balls, and Karunaratne’s little cameo ensured the victory against the Aussies at the jaws of defeat, where they conceded 59 in the last three overs.
Another fantastic match I can recall is Kumar Sangakkara’s 20th ODI hundred in his last international match in his hometown, Kandy at the Pallekele Stadium. Sri Lanka ended up winning that ODI convincingly, courtesy of Sanga’s run-a-ball of 112 and bowling contributions from Lakmal and Senanayake. The Lankan lions ended up thrashing the English by 90 runs, bowling them out for just 202 runs.
Lastly, of course, I need to mention one of the most recent and beautiful innings cricket has ever seen was Pathum Nissanka’s unbeaten 210 against Afghanistan, being the first Sri Lankan ever to score a double hundred, only the 12th in all of ODI cricket. Sr Lankan ended up posting a colossal 381 and ended up winning it by 43 runs.
The Records on this ground: Pitch Report and Analysis
The Pallekele Stadium is actually one of the more suited and balanced grounds in all of the sub-continents as it has a lot to offer for the spinners and pacers at the start and at the end with even bounces, turn phases in the pitch along with a lot to offer for the batters as it gets easier to bat in the middle overs.
And, these even conditions are complemented by a beautiful climate as the weather is not too hot and hot too humid, nor it rains aggressively. There are 74 international games played throughout this venue in all formats, let us now talk about them.
T20 Cricket
There have been 23 T2O matches, and the teams who end up batting first always seem to have a slight edge as out of the 23, 12 have been won while batting first, and the other eight have been won bowling first. The average 1st innings is 168 runs, which means that the pitch initially in the powerplay to the following four overs has a lot of seam movement for the bowlers, and then after the ten overs, the ball starts to come onto the bat.
Nevertheless, the pitch often has its instances where it doesn’t have both seam movement and batting batting-friendly nature, as the highest score ever recorded of 263 runs by the Aussies where we witnessed Glen Maxwell’s absurd 145 run innings built around fourteen, 4s, and nine, 6s.
Similarly, often, the wicket can be bowling-biased as well, and the lowest-ever recorded total was 88 all out to the Kiwis by the Lankan Lions.
One day Cricket
Now, in the One day-ers, there have been 42 matches, but it seems to have more to offer for the sides that opt to bowl first, as we can see that 23 matches have been won while bowling first, and the rest of the 17 have been won batting first.
It is probably because of how cricket has started to evolve, given that teams are more prone to scoring 300 runs in a wicket than a pitch that has 253, as the average 1st innings score is more of a bowling-friendly track. But, previously, 250 was actually seen as a good total in ODI cricket.
One of the best examples of the game evolving is indeed the Pathum Nissanka double hundred that I have spoken about above. Courtesy of his unbeaten 210, Sri Lanka posted their highest total in Pallekele Stadium, a mammoth 381 runs, which is also the 4th highest total in ODI cricket. The pitch has a lot to offer for chasing as well 300 past scores are seen chased; the recent one that I can recall is the Windies chasing a total of 314 by the Lankans back in 2022, which is also the Ground’s highest score ever chased.
Test Cricket
Now, as for Test Cricket, only nine games have been played on this ground, and the stadium was built way back in 2009. Given how unbiased this pitch stays for batters and bowlers, I believe more test matches should be played on this ground. The Pallekele Stadium so far has shown a lot of drawn test matches as out of the nine games played, 4 of them have been drawn, four have been won batting, and only one has been won bowling first. So, clearly, the players without inspection should be batting first after winning the toss.
The Pitch seems to offer both the teams similar playing conditions as the average first innings total is 323, and the average 2nd inning score is 317 runs. But, as soon as day three ends and the last two days start, the pitch probably gets more spinny, given how well Rangana Herath bowls here. And the stats speak for it as well. Similar to the 1st and 2nd inning scores, the average 3rd and 4th innings are similar, being 273 and 241, respectively.
As I have said, the pitch does offer a lot for the batters in the first innings; we can see this in Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh test match, where the Bangla Tigers posted 541 runs in the first innings and then in the second innings, the Lankans outscored them by posting 641 runs which is the highest ever recorded score in this ground.
Similarly, the pitch offers a lot to the bowlers in the latter part of the game as well, and the lowest ever recorded score was in the 4th innings to Australia by Sri Lankan bowling them out for 161 runs.
The players who enjoy playing at Pallekele Cricket Stadium
The players who enjoy playing at this ground are obviously the Lankans. Like Tilkaratne Dilshan, who absolutely loves playing here, being the highest run-getting in this ground in ODIs and T20Is. Dilshan has 939 runs in the ODIs, having an absurd average of 78.25, and in T20is, he has 334 in just ten innings, which is another ridiculous average of 47.71.
There is Jayawardene in T20is as well, who loves batting here; he has scored 277 runs in just seven innings with an average of 46.16. Then there is Nissanka, of course, who, after his double hundred, is now the 2nd highest run-getting in ODIs, averaging 69.19 and scoring 699 runs. The way he is scoring, we will soon see him surpassing Dilshan as the highest run-getting in this ground.
Then Karunaratne in test cricket, who loves playing here. Karunaratne has the most hundreds on this ground in test cricket, three averaging 64.81, scoring 713 runs on 11 innings.
To Conclude!
In conclusion, the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium stands not only as a symbol of Sri Lanka’s rich cricketing heritage but also as a testament to the nation’s passion for the sport. With its picturesque surroundings and state-of-the-art facilities, it has witnessed some of the most memorable moments in cricket history. From thrilling T20 encounters to gripping Test matches, the ground has provided a stage for both local heroes and international stars to showcase their talent. As players representing their domestic teams or donning the national jersey, Lankan cricketers have left an indelible mark on this hallowed turf, with their remarkable innings scores etched into the annals of cricketing folklore. As we reflect on the stadium’s legacy, one cannot help but anticipate the next chapter in its storied history, eagerly awaiting the drama and excitement that each match brings, uniting fans in celebration of the beautiful game.
