The former KKR player said that the pitch curator had always been curt with the Bengal state team.
The debate about the pitch curation at Eden Gardens rages on. After the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opening day clash between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane felt that the pitch in Kolkata could aid spinners a bit more following their seven-wicket defeat.
Even though Rahane mentioned that he is not solely laying the blame on the pitch for their loss, the pitch curator came down on those comments heavily. He said that there is no rule in IPL for franchises to control the nature of pitches.
“As long as I’m here, Eden Gardens pitch will not change. As per the IPL rules and regulations, franchises have no say over the pitch. Ever since I have taken charge (as Eden curator), the pitches here have been like this. It was like this in the past. Things haven’t changed now, and it will not be altered in the future,” Eden Gardens curator Sujan Mukherjee had told RevSportz.
Mukherjee, who has been in charge of the pitch since 2015, went a bit further by questioning the effectiveness of the home team spinners as they were trying to contain the likes of Virat Kohli (59 not out off 36 balls), Phil Salt (56 off 31 balls), and Rajat Patidar (34 off 16 balls).
“Their (RCB) spinners took four wickets between them. What did the KKR spinners do? Krunal Pandya got three wickets. Suyash Sharma turned the ball to castle Andre Russell,” he said.
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Bengal keeper-batter and former KKR player Shreevats Goswami added to this storm by saying that the state side were always at loggerheads with Mukherjee. It is quite the opposite to the way other curators deal with their respective state teams.
“Fact : Nothing new with the Eden garden curator not listening to the home captain. Having played for bengal over a decade,have been witness to this from close quarters. As a home team we would ask for a certain pitch to take the home advantage but would seldom get it.Infact the curator wouldn’t even let us train in the Eden garden , run rounds cause apparently the “grass would spoiled “. On the other hand I would see my counterpart Karnataka players running around in chinaswamy stadium!” Goswami said in a post on X.
Goswami had played five matches for KKR in IPL 2011 and scored 29 runs. The 35-year-old has been a prolific performer for Bengal with over 10,000 runs across all formats and 274 catches.
No matter the nature of the pitch, KKR had managed to score big totals and managed to pick wickets consistently at the Eden Gardens last season. The dissatisfaction of an opening-day defeat most likely had dissipated from the camp after their thumping win over the Rajasthan Royals in the second game. KKR will return to the Eden Gardens on April 3 for the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
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