Pitch battle rages at Eden

The first tweet on X-handle was by former Bengal captain Sreevats Goswami, who said, “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 !#EdenGardens#curator#KKR#pitch," he said.

If that was not enough, a video has surfaced on X handle where Nitish Rana two seasons back was seen complaining about Eden pitch.

The then KKR captain had gotten into a disagreement with pitch curator Mukherjee, it seems. Rana had gone to the extent of saying that every team in the IPL had home advantage “except KKR” at Eden Gardens.

Meanwhile, it seems Mr Mukherjee has made a U-turn and told the media, “No official or player asked for the pitch requirement for the first match. A coach at the time of practice asked me about the behaviour of the pitch. I said ghumega bhi aur acchachalega (the pitch will turn, and it will be good for batting)," he has said.

"I never denied anything to KKR. We have been in good relations for a long time. I prepared the pitch as per BCCI guidelines. Those who are accusing me know nothing," he added.

It all began after the opening night when KKR was humbled by RCB at home.

In the post-match press meet KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane had said, “We would love to see the pitch helping the spin bowlers, but again, this wicket was under covers for the last one-and-a-half days.”

Rahane added, “Both the spinners we have, they can bowl on any kind of wicket, and I am sure they are confident as well.”

However, this did not sit well with Eden Gardens Curator Sujan Mukherjee, who, in an interview with a sports channel, said, “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 they will not be altered in the future.”

He went on to add, “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.”

This drew angry reactions on social media from KKR fans who went on to criticize Mr Mukherjee. Cricket pundits Simon Doull and Harsha Bhogale also joined the bandwagon and said their bit not making things any easier for the curator.

Doull went to the extent of asking the KKR management to shift the home venue if they were not getting any cooperation from the curator. “If he’s (the curator) not taking heed of what the home team wants, I mean, they are paying the stadium fees, they are paying for what’s going on in the IPL, but if he’s still not paying heed to what the home team wants, then just move the franchise away to somewhere else. His job is not to pass an opinion on the game. That’s not what he’s paid for,” Doull who is working as an expert for a cricket portal had said.

“If they are playing at home, they should get the tracks that they think are suited for their bowlers. I saw something that the KKR curator has said. If I’m in the KKR camp, I’m extremely unhappy with what he said because I’m not asking for a 120 surface. I’m just saying, give me a surface where my bowlers can win matches,” Harsha Bhogale said in the media.

Now, all eyes will be set on the third of April for the home game against SRH to see how the pitch behaves.