Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Zaheer Khan made a big comment after LSG lost its first home game of the season against the Punjab Kings. The Super Giants posted just 171 runs batting first, and the Kings chased down the target inside 17 overs without any fuss.
Pitches in Lucknow in the previous seasons of the IPL supported the spinners. However, in the first match, there was no sign of any help that the bowlers were able to get from the Ekana track.
After the match ended, Zaheer Khan fired shots at the Ekana stadium pitch curator, saying that he made a pitch that was tailor-made for the opposition team and hence took out the equation of home advantage. The Ekana track became the center of attention after the game with all the talks surrounding whether the curators are preparing pitches considering the home team. This is the second time that a venue has come under criticism owing to the pitch after the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata.
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Hope This Is The First And Last Time It Comes To That- Zaheer Khan On Pitch Controversy
Zaheer Khan remarked that it felt as if the opposition had brought their own curator to prepare the pitch. He further said that going ahead in the season, the management will ensure that the curator prepares tracks favouring the home team.
"Considering it's a home game and in IPL you've seen how teams have looked at taking a little bit of home advantage, 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, you know, it was Punjab curator out here. So that's something which we will figure. It's a new set-up for me, but I hope that this is the first and the last game when it comes to that. Because you are disappointing the Lucknow fans as well. They've come up with so many expectations of winning the first home game here," Zaheer said.
"As a team, we are confident. We accept that we've lost the game, and we have got to do whatever it takes to make that impact in the home leg. We still have six more games to go here, and this team has shown in the season so far, whatever little cricket is played, that we have the right outlook and the mindset to look at the IPL. What you can expect is innovation, out-of-the-box thinking, the fight, the hunger, and that sums us up as a team," he said.
LSG skipper Rishabh Pant also shared his opinion on how the pitch played. He said that he expected the track to turn, which is why they used M Siddharth, the left-arm spinner, as their Impact Sub in place of pacer Prince Yadav.
"The idea was to get a slower wicket. We felt it was a home game; it was going to stop a little bit. I think the slower ones, when bowled into the wicket, were still sticking in, but we weren't good enough on the day. We have to learn and move forward. It is our first home game. Still assessing the conditions," Pant said.
