National Stadium Karachi

Pakistan's biggest cricket stadium, Karachi's National Stadium holds more than 30,000 sport fans and has been the venue for some of the country's most iconic moments. Now known as National Bank Stadium or the National Bank Cricket Arena due to sponsorship reasons, the venue is the home ground of the Karachi Kings, who play in the Pakistan Super League. 

Karachi's National Stadium dates back to the 1950s and it was where the Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar made his first Test appearance, starting a stellar career. Pakistan have a fantastic record at Karachi, having only lost two of the 45 Test matches they have played on this cricket ground.  

National Stadium Karachi was where Viv Richards made a stunning 181 against Sri Lanka during the 1987 Cricket World Cup, as well as being the ground where Mohammad Yousuf took Richards' record of the most runs in a calendar year. The stadium also hosted 1996 Cricket World Cup matches including Pakistan beating England but losing to South Africa.

National Stadium Karachi Pitch Report

This stadium is known for being fairly batter-friendly, with consistent pace and bounce ensuring that high scoring is possible. Data from Cricmetric.com shows that the average first innings score in T20s during 2024 was over 167, a steep decline on the 180 recorded in 2023. 

Pakistan Super League teams checking the National Stadium Karachi pitch report should take note of the fact that 62% of T20s here are won by the team chasing. Sides batting first only win 38% of the time, so there is a significant advantage to winning the toss and opting to chase. 

Medium pace bowlers struggle to retain much control and they have some of the highest T20 economy rates at National Stadium Karachi, while slow bowlers can keep the score down. When it comes to bowling averages, slow bowlers also get their wickets faster than most here. 

There is normally plenty of spin from the pitch at National Stadium Karachi, so it is not unusual for slow bowlers to take the majority of overs during T20 matches that are played on the ground. 

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