Lucknow : Another IPL home team has been left frustrated by the conditions at their own ground. Following an eight-wicket defeat with 22 balls to spare in their first home game of the season, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Zaheer Khan remarked that it felt as if the opposition had brought their own curator to prepare the pitch, as per ESPNcricinfo. "What was a little disappointing for me here..." Zaheer said at the post-match press conference, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"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," he added.
"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," he noted.
"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.
With injuries limiting their fast-bowling options, LSG might have preferred a pitch that favoured spin or at least neutralized the Punjab Kings (PBKS) pace attack. However, they fielded only two frontline quicks, including a last-minute addition in Shardul Thakur, while their squad has just one overseas fast bowler--Shamar Joseph.
PBKS capitalized on the conditions with their pace trio of Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, and Marco Jansen, who combined for figures of 5/112 in 13 overs, with Marcus Stoinis chipping in with two more overs.
Zaheer, on misreading the pitch, said, "That's what we are saying. We will go according to what the curator tells us. We are not using this as an excuse. We have seen during the last season that it's not like batters don't have to struggle here at times. All these things go on in cricket. But the way the home team should get support, everyone needs to know this is our home team that is playing in Lucknow and what can we do to help them win? Everyone's contribution is important. We will find a way anyway to win matches..."
Even LSG captain Rishabh Pant admitted in the post-match presentation that they were expecting a slower track, which led to their decision to replace seamer Prince Yadav with spinner M Siddharth. "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.
LSG now joins Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in expressing concerns over home pitch conditions. KKR previously stated they wanted more spin-friendly surfaces but had no control over preparations, while CSK--boasting the best home win-loss record in IPL history--have struggled to predict conditions at their ground for the past two years.