The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have joined other teams, such as Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, in expressing concern over their home pitch in IPL 2025. Following an 8-wicket defeat to Punjab Kings at Ekana Stadium, LSG’s mentor, Zaheer Khan, shared his frustration, stating it felt like “a Punjab curator was at work.”
He emphasized the importance of home ground advantages in the IPL and criticized the pitch conditions, saying, “What was a little disappointing for me here was it’s a home game, and in IPL you’ve seen how teams have looked at taking a little bit of home advantage. So from that point of view, you’ve seen the curator is not really thinking that it’s a home game. I think maybe it looked like it was Punjab’s curator out here (laughs). So that’s something which we’ll figure out.”
Khan hopes this will be the only match with such conditions, noting that fans expect victories at home and that the team needs to maximize its home conditions.
When asked about the pitch reading, Khan mentioned that they would follow the curator’s guidelines but noted past difficulties for batters on the same pitch.
Captain Rishabh Pant echoed Khan’s sentiments, expressing that they aimed for a slow pitch but the conditions did not support that. Punjab Kings successfully chased a target of 172 runs with 22 balls to spare, while LSG’s Ravi Bishnoi struggled due to the lack of assistance for spinners. With two losses out of three matches this season, LSG’s home record is now only 7 wins from 15 matches, indicating the pitch’s unsuitability for their gameplay.