Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane was clearly not happy with the Eden Gardens pitch after his team’s second home loss. He felt that the pitch wasn’t supporting the spinners, and when asked about ‘home advantage,’ he got cautious, saying any remarks could lead to a big mess.
In a match where spin was expected to be vital, Lucknow Super Giants narrowly beat KKR by four runs, marking their second loss at home this season. “First off, there was no help for the spinners, let me make that clear,” Rahane said post-game. LSG scored 238 runs, while KKR managed 234. Rahane’s decision to bowl didn’t work out, as LSG batters found ways to score runs on the longer side of the field.
They really used the boundary well, hitting it to the longer side. Our bowlers tried, but (Nicholas) Pooran and Mitchell Marsh really took their chances, he noted. It was a great batting pitch, nearly 500 runs in total. Tough for the bowlers, but they made the most of it.
While LSG’s spinners, Digvesh Rathi and Ravi Bishnoi, gave away 80 runs but took two vital wickets, KKR’s Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy went wicketless and allowed over nine runs per over. Narine didn’t even bowl his full four overs.
This led to the obvious question: does ‘home advantage’ actually exist in the IPL now? “There’s been enough talk about the pitch. You all have hyped it up. If I say something now, it’ll cause a lot of noise,” Rahane replied with a chuckle.
When pressed more, he hinted at the curator Sujan Mukherjee, who said he doesn’t consider any requests from home teams. “Our curator has gotten a lot of attention. I think he’s fine with that. You can write whatever you want about home advantage,” Rahane remarked. If I have any concerns, I’ll probably bring it to the IPL instead of discussing it here.
This season, several teams, including Lucknow Super Giants, KKR, and Chennai Super Kings, have expressed dissatisfaction about not having a real ‘home’ advantage. Even LSG mentor Zaheer Khan joked after their match against Punjab Kings that it seemed like the Punjab curator prepared the Ekana pitch.
As for Rahane and his ambitions for a comeback to the Indian team, he wanted to keep things simple. “I’m enjoying my cricket right now, playing for KKR and at Eden. It’s all about being present, enjoying my game and batting, without thinking too far ahead,” said the 36-year-old, who last played for India in 2023.