IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders are unhappy with the Eden Gardens Pitch in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2023. But according to pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee, he is not required to provide favourable pitches to the home team. KKR skipper Nitish Rana has expressed his displeasure with the pitches provided at their home stadium even going so far as to claim that every team in the Indian Premier League enjoys home advantage, ‘except KKR.’
Sujan Mukherjee, the pitch curator at Eden Gardens, told The Indian Express that he is not required to create wickets in accordance with the requests of the home team.
“IPL is not played on home advantage, and the captain may say anything he wants,” Mukherjee said. “Does IPL have a clause where it is written that pitches have to be produced according to the wishes of the IPL franchise?”
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The Eden Gardens pitch has historically provided the spinners on the Kolkata Knight Riders team with a lot of support. Their winning teams in 2012 and 2014 included spin stars like Piyush Chawla, Shakib Al Hasan, and Sunil Narine. Therefore, KKR must have expected the same this time as well.
However, recently, everything has changed. In the IPL and domestic cricket, the track at Eden Gardens is currently recognised as being flat which provides a plethora of runs. Pitch currently benefits pacers due to its slightly green tinge.
Mukherjee contends that altering the surface for a two-month competition like the IPL is not beneficial.
“There are a lot of problems which I cannot talk about, and changing the pitch for KKR is not easy,” stated the pitch curator.
Mukherjee added that other IPL teams, like RCB and DC, don’t discuss or lament home advantage. They use what is given to them to play.
However, the KKR management disapproves of this behaviour. A few team officials expressed their desire to play on a slow surface.
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