7 Best grounds for batting

#6) Gaddafi Stadium (Pakistan)

Gaddafi Stadium

The ground that hosted the 1996 World Cup has seen many great batting performances, not least Aravinda de Silva's match-winning century in that final.

In Test matches here, a wicket on average cost bowling sides 34.99 runs, resulting in 55 percent of the matches played her to be drawn. It has seen nine double-hundreds and one triple-hundred, Inzamam-ul-Haq's mammoth 329 as Pakistan played New Zealand.

Many Pakistani greats have thrived at the Gaddafi Stadium, as both Zaheer Abbass and Mohammad Yousuf average in the 90s at the Lahore-based ground. Yet one of the finest innings it has seen was Virender Sehwag's 254, made in just 247 balls. Sehwag ended up being the only Indian wicket to fall in their one and only innings as they ended the Test at 1/410 in reply to Pakistan's 679.

The ODI statistics at the Gaddafi Stadium are remarkable too, especially since it has hosted ODIs from the time when batsmen scored far slower in the format. The average runs per wicket in ODIs at the Gaddafi Stadium is 33.54, while the average economy rate is 5.24.

Most recently it saw Pakistan score 3/375 there, largely thanks to a 76-ball 112 by Shoaib Malik. In fact, in ODIs Malik has over 1,000 runs at the venue, averaging 54.21 with a strike-rate of 96.26.

But the most impressive ODI performance at the ground would likely be Zaheer Abbass's 87-ball 123 against Sri Lanka in 1983. Scoring at such a rapid rate in this era of cricket was obscene. But he was still in the losing side, as Sri Lanka reached Pakistan's rain-revised score with ease.