After LSG’s eight-wicket loss against PBKS at home ground Lucknow, team mentor Zaheer Khan has created a bit of a controversy, talking about “home advantage” and the pitch. This is not the first time this has happened in IPL 2025; earlier KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane had spoken about the same too, and things had gotten messy, with Eden Garden chief curator, Sujan Mukherjee getting involved too.
LSG’s Zaheer Khan Slams Punjab Curator
LSG failed to bat well first and only scored 171, while PBKS crossed with finish line with utmost ease, in only 16.2 overs. Such was Zaheer’s disappointment, that he called the curator at Lucknow, “Punjab curator”. “What was a little disappointing for me here, considering it’s a home game…”Zaheer said.
“In IPL, you’ve seen how teams have looked at taking a little bit of home advantage, you know, so yeah, from that point of view, you’ve seen the curator is not really thinking that it’s a home game, you know. I think maybe it looked like, you know, it was Punjab curator out here.”
Says, Home Team Needs to Extract Pitch Advantage
LSG, meanwhile have been lackluster this season, where in the three matches they have played, they have managed to win only one. Zaheer Khan further continued that, it was still a new setup for him here, and will figure out things. “That’s something which we’ll figure out. It’s a new setup for me also here. But I hope that this is the first and the last game when it comes to that, because you are disappointing the Lucknow fans as well. They’ve come up with so much expectations of winning the first home game here.
LSG Slip down in Points Table
“As a team, we are confident, you know, we accept that we’ve lost the game, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to make that impact in the home leg. We still have six more games to go here.” It did not stop there, as Zaheer was even asked if he misread the pitch by any chance, as he was seen spending considerable time in the centre with skipper Rishabh Pant.
“See, we will go by what the curator says, no?,” Zaheer said. “Not looking at it as an excuse. We have seen last season also, it’s not that batters haven’t had issues here and bowers haven’t been on a roll. Those things happen in cricket. But in terms of support for the home team, everyone must be aware that this is our team that’s playing in Lucknow and what we can do to ensure a victory. Everyone’s contribution is necessary. That said, we will find a way to win.”
Now, with this, LSG has slipped to the sixth position in points table.
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