# IPL Toss: Bat or Bowl First? What 1,218 Matches Say

Source: https://cricketin.org/en/compare/ipl-toss-bat-or-bowl-first

[By Karthik Iyengar](/en/authors/data-editor), Data Editor. [Reviewed by Anjali Deshmukh](/en/authors/cricket-analyst), Cricket Analyst. Updated 10 Nov 2026. Editorial policy: https://cricketin.org/en/editorial-policy

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1,218 IPL results from 2008 to 2026: how often toss winners field, how often they win, and the grounds where batting first did better. Data: Cricsheet.

In 1,218 IPL matches from 2008 to 2026 that ended with a result in normal play, the captain who won the toss chose to field 66.5% of the time, and the toss winner went on to win 51.6% of matches. Toss winners who chose to field won 54.7% of the time; those who chose to bat won 45.3%. Data: Cricsheet, calculated on 10 November 2026.

This page breaks the numbers down by season and by ground, shows how much of each figure chance alone could produce, and names the grounds where batting first has done at least as well.

## The toss in numbers, 2008 to 2026

Winning the toss is worth less than it looks. Over 19 seasons the side that called correctly won 628 of 1,218 decided matches. That is 51.6%, one win in a hundred above a coin.

The choice after the call matters more. Captains who put the other side in won 54.7% of their matches. Captains who batted first won 45.3%, a gap of 9.4 points.

**Table 1. The toss in IPL matches, 2008 to 2026. Data: Cricsheet**

| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Matches in the archive | 1,243 |
| Decided in normal play (counted) | 1,218, including 23 D/L results |
| Tied, settled by a Super Over (left out) | 16 |
| No result (left out) | 9 |
| Toss winner chose to field | 810 (66.5%) |
| Toss winner chose to bat | 408 (33.5%) |
| Toss winner won the match | 628 (51.6%) |
| Won after choosing to field | 443 of 810 (54.7%) |
| Won after choosing to bat | 185 of 408 (45.3%) |
| Side batting second won | 666 of 1,218 (54.7%) |

Period: IPL 2008 to IPL 2026, last match 31 May 2026. Calculated on 10 November 2026 from the [Cricsheet IPL archive](https://cricsheet.org/downloads/).

## How the toss works under the Laws

The Laws of Cricket fix the timing. The captains toss a coin on the field, with at least one umpire present, no earlier than 30 minutes and no later than 15 minutes before the scheduled start ([MCC Law 13.4](https://lawsofcricket.lords.org/laws-of-cricket/innings-and-results/innings)).

The winner then decides to bat or to field and tells the other captain and the umpires. Once that is done, the decision cannot be changed ([MCC Law 13.5](https://lawsofcricket.lords.org/laws-of-cricket/innings-and-results/innings)).

So the toss carries no information about the match. The decision does, because the captain makes it after seeing the pitch, the sky and the team sheet. The toss is also a market of its own, and our guide to [bet types](/en/guides/cricket-bet-types-explained) explains how it settles.

## Season by season: the swing to fielding first

Fielding first was not always the default. In 2010 only 33.9% of toss winners chose to field. From 2016 to 2019 the share stayed above 81% every season, and 2019 set the high mark at 84.2%.

Two seasons break the pattern, and both were played away from the usual grounds. In 2009, played in South Africa, the share fell to 37.5%. In 2020, played in the UAE, it fell to 53.6%.

**Table 2. Toss decisions and results by IPL season. Data: Cricsheet**

| Season | Results counted | Chose to field | Toss winner won | Won after fielding | Won after batting | Side batting second won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 58 | 32 (55.2%) | 48.3% | 59.4% | 34.6% | 62.1% |
| 2009 | 56 | 21 (37.5%) | 58.9% | 66.7% | 54.3% | 53.6% |
| 2010 | 59 | 20 (33.9%) | 52.5% | 50.0% | 53.8% | 47.5% |
| 2011 | 72 | 48 (66.7%) | 52.8% | 56.2% | 45.8% | 55.6% |
| 2012 | 74 | 37 (50.0%) | 44.6% | 48.6% | 40.5% | 54.1% |
| 2013 | 74 | 30 (40.5%) | 47.3% | 46.7% | 47.7% | 50.0% |
| 2014 | 59 | 41 (69.5%) | 49.2% | 58.5% | 27.8% | 62.7% |
| 2015 | 56 | 31 (55.4%) | 48.2% | 41.9% | 56.0% | 42.9% |
| 2016 | 60 | 49 (81.7%) | 56.7% | 65.3% | 18.2% | 68.3% |
| 2017 | 58 | 48 (82.8%) | 58.6% | 58.3% | 60.0% | 55.2% |
| 2018 | 60 | 50 (83.3%) | 53.3% | 54.0% | 50.0% | 53.3% |
| 2019 | 57 | 48 (84.2%) | 59.6% | 62.5% | 44.4% | 61.4% |
| 2020 | 56 | 30 (53.6%) | 44.6% | 46.7% | 42.3% | 51.8% |
| 2021 | 59 | 44 (74.6%) | 57.6% | 63.6% | 40.0% | 62.7% |
| 2022 | 74 | 59 (79.7%) | 48.6% | 49.2% | 46.7% | 50.0% |
| 2023 | 73 | 52 (71.2%) | 46.6% | 44.2% | 52.4% | 45.2% |
| 2024 | 71 | 52 (73.2%) | 43.7% | 46.2% | 36.8% | 50.7% |
| 2025 | 70 | 58 (82.9%) | 61.4% | 58.6% | 75.0% | 52.9% |
| 2026 | 72 | 60 (83.3%) | 51.4% | 58.3% | 16.7% | 62.5% |
| All seasons | 1,218 | 810 (66.5%) | 51.6% | 54.7% | 45.3% | 54.7% |

Read the batting column with care, because it rests on few matches. In 2026 only 12 toss winners chose to bat, and 2 of them won. In 2025 the same 12 choices produced 9 wins. Neither season tells you much on its own. The final standings for the latest season are in the [IPL 2026 table](/en/tables/ipl-2026).

## Ground by ground: where the choice differs

Captains do not treat every ground the same. At M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, toss winners chose to field in 91.0% of 100 decided matches. At Dharamsala the share was 94.4%, from only 18 matches.

Chepauk in Chennai is the exception among the big grounds. There, toss winners batted first in 50 of 96 matches and won 27 of them, or 54.0%, against 47.8% when they fielded. The [team records](/en/compare/ipl-team-records-by-venue) at Chepauk show how one side has used that ground.

**Table 3. Toss decisions at grounds with 15 or more IPL results, 2008 to 2026. Data: Cricsheet**

| Ground | Results counted | Chose to field | Toss winner won | Won after fielding | Chose to bat (won) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | 131 | 77.1% | 51.9% | 54.5% | 30 (43.3%) |
| Eden Gardens, Kolkata | 105 | 68.6% | 50.5% | 55.6% | 33 (39.4%) |
| Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | 101 | 62.4% | 51.5% | 54.0% | 38 (47.4%) |
| M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru | 100 | 91.0% | 55.0% | 56.0% | 9 (44.4%) |
| MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai | 96 | 47.9% | 51.0% | 47.8% | 50 (54.0%) |
| Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad | 88 | 58.0% | 37.5% | 43.1% | 37 (29.7%) |
| Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur | 68 | 58.8% | 55.9% | 67.5% | 28 (39.3%) |
| PCA IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali | 61 | 72.1% | 47.5% | 52.3% | 17 (35.3%) |
| Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad | 52 | 73.1% | 46.2% | 47.4% | 14 (42.9%) |
| MCA Stadium, Pune | 51 | 62.7% | 54.9% | 50.0% | 19 (63.2%) |
| Dubai International Cricket Stadium | 43 | 58.1% | 41.9% | 44.0% | 18 (38.9%) |
| Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai | 37 | 73.0% | 54.1% | 55.6% | 10 (50.0%) |
| Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi | 35 | 51.4% | 51.4% | 61.1% | 17 (41.2%) |
| Sharjah Cricket Stadium | 28 | 71.4% | 57.1% | 65.0% | 8 (37.5%) |
| Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai | 27 | 66.7% | 51.9% | 50.0% | 9 (55.6%) |
| Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow | 27 | 77.8% | 66.7% | 66.7% | 6 (66.7%) |
| HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala | 18 | 94.4% | 44.4% | 41.2% | 1 (100.0%) |
| ACA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam | 17 | 52.9% | 52.9% | 55.6% | 8 (50.0%) |
| Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium, New Chandigarh | 17 | 70.6% | 58.8% | 58.3% | 5 (60.0%) |
| Kingsmead, Durban | 15 | 33.3% | 60.0% | 60.0% | 10 (60.0%) |

Hyderabad stands out at the other end. Toss winners there won only 33 of 88 decided matches, or 37.5%, the lowest share of any ground in the table. With twenty grounds in one list, one of them landing this far from 50% is not surprising, so treat it as a question rather than a rule.

## How much of this is chance

Every rate on this page comes from a limited number of matches, so each one has a margin. We used a standard 95% interval, the range a true rate could sit in and still produce the figure we observed.

- **Toss winner won, 51.6%.** The interval runs from 48.8% to 54.4%. It includes 50%, so the data cannot show that winning the toss helps at all.
- **Won after choosing to field, 54.7%.** The interval runs from 51.2% to 58.1%. It stays above 50%, so over 19 seasons fielding first has a measurable edge.
- **Won after choosing to bat, 45.3%.** The interval runs from 40.6% to 50.2%. It sits almost entirely below 50%.
- **One season.** With 56 to 74 results a season, a single-season rate can swing by about 12 points either way on luck alone.

There is a catch inside the fielding figure. Captains do not choose at random. They field first when they expect the ball to get wet later or the pitch to stay true, and our guide to [pitch conditions](/en/guides/how-pitch-conditions-work) explains why dew helps the side batting second. Part of the 54.7% may be good judgement about conditions, not the choice itself.

## What to take from it before a match

- Ignore the call. A toss win alone has been worth about one extra win in a hundred.
- Read the decision as information. A captain who bats first at a ground where nearly everyone fields usually has a reason, such as a dry pitch or an afternoon start.
- Check the ground's own history. Our ranking of [chasing venues](/en/compare/best-ipl-venues-for-chasing) shows the record of each one.
- Allow for the schedule. Cricsheet files do not record start times, so this page cannot split afternoon and evening matches, and that split is where dew matters most.

Toss news moves prices in [cricket match betting](/en) markets within minutes, yet the figures above show how little the call itself decides. If you bet, set a limit first. Betting is for adults 18 and over, and no toss statistic makes a result certain.

The next season starts with retention and the auction, and the dates are on our [IPL 2027](/en/leagues/ipl) hub.

Under Law 13.4 the toss result comes between 30 and 15 minutes before the scheduled start. Our [live scores](/en/live) page shows it together with the score as play goes on.

## How we counted

We downloaded the full IPL archive from Cricsheet on 10 November 2026. It holds 1,243 matches, the last on 31 May 2026. Cricsheet publishes ball-by-ball data under the Open Data Commons Attribution licence, so every figure here can be rebuilt from the same files ([Cricsheet JSON format](https://cricsheet.org/format/json/)).

- **Season.** Each match counts in the year of its first date. Cricsheet labels three seasons by two years: its 2007/08 is IPL 2008, 2009/10 is IPL 2010 and 2020/21 is IPL 2020.
- **What we left out.** The 9 no-result matches. The 16 ties settled by a Super Over are also left out of every rate, because normal play did not decide them.
- **D/L matches.** The 23 matches decided by the D/L method stay in. The side that batted second counts as the chasing side, whether or not its target was revised, as our page on the [DLS method](/en/guides/dls-method-explained) explains.
- **Grounds.** Venue names were merged by Cricsheet's own venue registry, and only grounds with 15 or more counted results appear in Table 3.

Data: Cricsheet. Period: 2008 to 2026. Calculated on 10 November 2026.

## Questions people ask

### Should you bat or bowl first after winning the toss in the IPL?

Across 1,218 IPL results from 2008 to 2026, toss winners who chose to field won 54.7% and those who chose to bat won 45.3%. The ground matters: at Chepauk in Chennai, toss winners who batted first won 54.0% of 50 matches.

### Does winning the toss help a team win an IPL match?

Barely. Toss winners won 628 of 1,218 decided matches, or 51.6%. The 95% interval runs from 48.8% to 54.4%, which includes 50%, so chance alone could explain it.

### In which IPL season did the most toss winners choose to field?

2019. Toss winners chose to field in 48 of 57 decided matches, or 84.2%. The lowest share was 33.9% in 2010.

### At which IPL ground have toss winners done worst?

Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Toss winners there won 33 of 88 decided matches from 2008 to 2026, or 37.5%.

### Can a captain change the decision after the toss?

No. Under MCC Law 13.5 the captain who wins the toss tells the other captain and the umpires whether the side will bat or field, and once notified the decision cannot be changed.

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