Gaddafi Stadium

One of Pakistan's largest cricket grounds, the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore was first built more than 65 years ago, but it has gone through various modernisation projects since it opened.  

The Lahore stadium made history when it became the first in Pakistan to be equipped with modern floodlights with standby power generators and it is where the Pakistan Cricket Board is based. 

Gaddafi Stadium held the final of the Pakistan Super League back in 2017, while the Lahore Qalandars play their home games at the ground in that particular T20 competition.  

The latest revamp of the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore came as Pakistan prepared for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. There is also talk of selling the sponsorship rights to the venue name, due to the stadium being named after the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.  

Lahore has hosted games in both the 1987 Cricket World Cup and the 1996 Cricket World Cup - including the final of the latter tournament.  

International cricket has returned to Gaddafi Stadium in recent years after a long absence.

Gaddafi Stadium Pitch Report

Gaddafi Stadium is known for its batter-friendly surface, with the flat nature of the pitch lending itself to large scores in all formats of the game.  

The Lahore stadium has seen some very high totals in T20s with England making 209/3 in an October 2022 match against Pakistan, while Mohammad Rizwan made an unbeaten T20I century against South Africa the year before. 

Lahore's surface is known for being slow and aiding the spinners, with pace bowlers likely to be in for a tough time because of the lack of pace in the wicket.  

Chasing down targets is now easy as a result, with data from Cricmetric showing that teams batting first in T20s at Gaddafi Stadium win 60% of matches, compared to 36% of wins for teams chasing.  

As would be expected from a turning wicket, the Gaddafi Stadium pitch report shows spinners to have the best averages in T20s here, which helps to explain why captains and coaches in the PSL (Pakistan Super League) have been known to pack their sides with spinners for games in Lahore. 

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