There’s been a lot of buzz around the pitch at Eden Gardens in Kolkata during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. KKR’s captain, Ajinkya Rahane, made some remarks about how his team isn’t really feeling that home advantage, which usually means they’d know the pitch better since it’s their turf. After they lost to Lucknow Super Giants, he threw in a bit of a jab at the pitch curator, Sujan Mukherjee, suggesting the pitch isn’t working in their favor.
But Colonel Arvinder Singh, who’s the COO of Gujarat Titans, thinks folks are making a mountain out of a molehill over the pitch situation. He piped up with an interesting point in an interview with Times of India, saying that the rules for pitches have been the same since day one. There aren’t any special allowances for any team to request a specific kind of pitch. It’s all pretty straightforward: the rules apply to everyone.
He explained that when it comes to home advantage, it should come from being familiar with your home ground. You practice and play most of your games there, so you’re supposed to know it inside out. According to him, if you’re hoping for a home advantage, you should absolutely embrace all of it. But when it comes to demanding what the pitch should be like, he thinks that doesn’t really resonate with anyone.
Earlier, Rahane didn’t hold back when he was asked about the pitch curator, saying that Sujan’s been getting quite a bit of attention lately. “Our curator has gotten a lot of media coverage. I think he’s enjoying that fame,” Rahane joked. He went on to say that if anyone wants to write about the home advantage, they’re free to do so, but affirmed that if he had any issues, he’d rather bring them up to the IPL officials instead of airing them out publicly.
So, it looks like there’s some tension about how the pitch is playing out, but it’s clear that both sides have their views on what “home advantage” really means and how it holds up under the rules of the game. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out as the tournament continues!