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Eden Gardens pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee has rejected KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane’s plea for spin-friendly tracks, citing IPL rules.
The KKR Thinktank (From left) Chandrakant Pandit, Dwayne Bravo and Ajinkya Rahane. (Credit: IG/kkriders)
Eden Gardens pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee has vehemently rejected Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane‘s subtle plea for more spin-friendly tracks at the stadium in IPL 2025. Mukherjee cited IPL’s rules to say that the franchises have ‘no say’ over the pitch conditions while also targeting KKR’s spinners for not being good enough to utilize the 22 yards well enough.
Defending champions KKR started their IPL 2025 season with a big seven-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at home. New skipper Rahane top-scored with a 56 (31) at number three but the rest of the batting lineup faltered and the team stumbled to a quite sub-par 174/8. RCB barely gave the hosts any chance in the chase, shooting down the target in 16.2 overs led by Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 59 (36).
“As long as I’m here, Eden Gardens pitch will not change,” Mukherjee told RevSportz. “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. 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 added.
In the post-match conference after the defeat, Rahane had said: “We would love to see the pitch helping the spin bowlers but again, this wicket was undercover 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.”
This is the second time in recent years a KKR captain has been seen at loggerheads with the pitch curator. In 2023, Nitish Rana, who was standing-in for the injured Shreyas Iyer had said that every IPL franchise had home advantage except for KKR — whose identity was choking oppositions with spinners.
“I think every team has a home advantage except KKR. We play on good pitches and score 200 and 200+ runs and on the other day, we play on slower pitches, and the scores are low. I think this shows the real quality of the batter to adjust to all the conditions,” he had said.
