Discussions Around Pitch Has Given Our Curator Lot Of Publicity: Rahane

The surface at Eden Gardens hasn’t provided any home advantage to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, and the conditions were no different against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 8 (Tuesday).

There was hardly any help for spinners as KKR suffered their third defeat of the season, but captain Ajinkya Rahane has no interest in giving more “publicity” to the curator. There has already been enough written about the surface at Eden Gardens and its curator.

"Let me just keep it that way. Jo humare curator hai, unko bahut publicity mila hai (this discussion has just given our curator a lot of publicity)," said Rahane after KKR lost to LSG by four runs, reported ESPNcricinfo.

"Whatever you'd like to write about home advantage, you can go ahead. If I have any concerns, I will talk to the IPL about it, rather than you guys, and discuss with the concerned authorities."

Lucknow first hammered 238/3 in their 20 overs and KKR managed to get to 234/7 in response. Sunil Narine conceded 38 runs in his three overs, while LSG’s Ravi Bishnoi went for 47 in his four overs. Varun Chakaravarthy (0/31) and Digvesh Singh Rathi (1/33) didn’t leak too many runs but could only pick one wicket between them.

"Firstly, there was no help for the spinners, let me clear that. They used the longer boundary really well. Our bowlers tried as well, but again, Nicholas Pooran (87* in 36 balls) and Mitchell Marsh (81 in 48) batted really well.

“In between, they took their chances, which came off really well for them. It was a lovely wicket (to bat on), we all saw that, scoring almost 500 runs [472] on this track. Hard for the bowlers, but they used the conditions and the boundary well."

KKR bowlers had a tough time against Pooran and Marsh but their batters put on a show in the second innings. Rahane himself smashed 61 off 35, while Narine (30 off 13), Venkatesh Iyer (45 off 29) and Rinku Singh (38* off 15) were also amongst runs.

"I thought we played really good cricket, you know. Chasing 239 and coming that close is never easy. Everyone's intent and attitude was really positive when we came into the dressing room after 20 overs of bowling. And we thought we will chase it down. But these things happen, you know. When you're chasing, you will lose two-three wickets in between.

"I thought the way we started in the powerplay with Sunny's intent and Venkatesh Iyer's batting, their contribution was amazing. So we got more positives I feel. I always believe that whatever happened in this game, it's past now. As long as we are learning from our mistakes and the good things we have done, that's all."