The pitch curator made it clear that no IPL franchise can dictate how pitches should be.
Eden Gardens stadium’s pitch curator hit back at Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) Ajinkya Rahane after the captain commented that he had hoped the pitch to aid spinners more. Rahane said so after losing the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
RCB comprehensively beat the defending champions in the season opener in Kolkata. Blistering half-centuries from openers Virat Kohli (59 not out off 36 balls) and Phil Salt (56 off 31 balls) with the help of captain Rajat Patidar (34 off 16 balls) took them past the target of 175 with seven wickets in hand and 22 balls to spare.
Both of KKR’s lead spinners – Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy – were largely ineffective despite claiming a wicket each. Salt, who was dismissed by Varun, drew first blood by smacking eight balls from him for 26 runs. Narine fared better at 27 runs from his four overs, but was unable to produce threatening deliveries.
After the match, Rahane felt that the match could’ve gone more in his team’s favour if it had aided the spinners.
“We would love to see the pitch helping the spin bowlers but again, this wicket was under cover for the last one-and-a-half days. Both the spinners we have, the quality they have, they can bowl in any kind of wicket and I am sure they are confident as well,” Rahane said in the post-match press conference.
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Sujan Mukherjee, who has been the pitch curator at Eden Gardens since 2015, strongly countered this idea from the KKR skipper by saying:
“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,” Mukherjee told RevSportz.
Mukherjee also pointed out that RCB spinners had flourished while their pacers also got purchase from the wicket.
“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.
It was left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya’s 3-29 that halted KKR’s momentum after a stunning partnership of 103 off 49 balls between Rahane (56 off 31 balls) and Narine (44 off 26 balls).
KKR will next face Rajasthan Royals at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday.
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