KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane had expressed his desire to see the Kolkata pitch offer more assistance to his spinners after they endured a defeat in the IPL 2025 season opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last week. In response to Ajinkya Rahane’s plea, Eden Gardens pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee reportedly said the franchise don’t have any say in how the surface should behave. Mukherjee also claimed that till the time he’s in charge, the nature of the pitch will not change.
The nature of the track at Kolkata’s home venue has been in discussion ever since skipper Ajinkya Rahane wished to get more support for his spinners at the Eden Gardens.
Eden Gardens Curator’s U-Turn After Row Over Denying KKR Captain Ajinkya Rahane’s Pitch Request
Sujan Mukherjee, a pitch curator at Eden Gardens, has been receiving a lot of backlash after denying Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane’s request to prepare a spin-friendly track. Following KKR’s big loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the opening match of IPL 2025, Ajinkya Rahane expressed his frustration over the pitch used for the game, and hoped to see spin-friendly track at the Eden Gardens.
“We would love to see the pitch helping the spin bowlers but again, this wicket was under cover 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,” Ajinkya Rahane was quoted as saying after the match.
“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,” Mukherjee told Revsportz.
“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.”
However, Mukherjee, who has been facing a lot of flak over his remarks, has backtracked from his previous remarks, saying that he never denied any request from KKR. Amid the ongoing pitch row at the Eden Gardens, KKR’s head coach, Chandrakant Pandit, batted for having favourable home conditions in the IPL.
KKR coach Chandrakant Pandit comes in support of the skipper Ajinkya Rahane regarding pitch controversy episode in IPL 2025
Ajinkya Rahane-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are all set to play their third game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 edition. The defending champions will face Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. Ahead of the fixture against the five-time champions, KKR’s head coach Chandrakant Pandit batted for having favourable home conditions in the cash-rich league.
His comment comes amid the ongoing pitch controversy at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. It all started with Ajinkya Rahane expressing his desire to have spin-friendly tracks in Kolkata so his bowlers could get much more assistance. However, the Eden Gardens curator, Sujan Mukherjee, refused to entertain any request, saying he would not alter the pitch conditions and would go by the BCCI rules.
This comment from Sujan invited criticism from all corners, and former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull advised KKR to move out of Kolkata if they were not getting pitches to their liking. KKR coach Chandrakant Pandit has now confirmed that his franchise is not in control of preparing the pitches at home.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ head coach has said that the team is ready to play on any pitch that they are provided with, but they would always expect to get a track to their liking when they play home games, as debates continue to rage over Eden Gardens pitch curator’s statements after the opening game of IPL 2025.
“The venue’s pitch curator had said after the game that he wouldn’t change the nature of the Eden Gardens pitch till he was the helm, drawing a lot of flak,”
“As a coach, as a team management, we always… whatever the surface has been provided to us, we play. The control, of course, that will be under curator,” Pandit said while speaking to the media ahead of their game against the Mumbai Indians.
Pandit, who stayed away from making any definite comments on the debated topic, said that any side, including Kolkata, would like to play on tracks that support their skills.
“At this moment, my focus is going to be in the next game tomorrow which we are playing. At the moment, I am not thinking on what has to be done, what is in whose control,” Pandit said.
“I don’t know what is the system in different states or different grounds where the control is over the franchise. But, at the moment, what I understand is the surface which is given to us, probably, of course, as team management, as a coach, as a captain, we expect something to be provided,” Pandit added.
When asked if IPL sides in general should get more favourable tracks at their home venues for seven out of 14 league games, Pandit replied, “Who will not be happy about that? I mean, this is a simple answer.”
There has been a lot of exchange of words against curator Sujan Mukherjee, who hasn’t stayed away from retorting as well. The KKR coach also expressed hope of seeing tracks at the Eden Gardens assist his team later in the season. The defending champions began their IPL 2025 season with a loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Since the start of the IPL 2025 season, several franchises and their staff members have spoken about the need for favourable home conditions. Earlier, CSK coach Stephen Fleming said that his team has no home advantage as they have been unable to read the pitch conditions at Chepauk. On the other hand, Gujarat Titans assistant coach Parthiv Patel stated that his side deliberately opted for a black soil pitch against the Mumbai Indians.