Courtesy: BCCI/IPL
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Zaheer Khan has alleged Ekana Stadium’s pitch curator of denying advantage to the home side with the turf in the 13th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. In the crucial contest, Punjab Kings (PBKS) hammered Lucknow by eight wickets in the latter’s backyard and won their consecutive two games in the competition. Batting first, the home side could accumulate only 171 runs on the board. Following the average score, Punjab exuded confidence and took LSG’s bowling attack to the cleaners to complete the chase in just 16.2 overs.
As per ESPNcricinfo, Zaheer attended a post-match conference and said that he felt as if the opponent had brought their own curator to create the pitch. "What was a little disappointing for me here, considering it's a home game. In IPL, you've seen how teams have looked at taking a little bit of home advantage, you know, so yeah, from that point of view, you've seen the curator is not really thinking that it's a home game, you know. I think maybe it looked like, you know, it was Punjab curator out here," remarked Zaheer.
Zaheer displays optimism after after LSG’s loss in first IPL 2025 home game
Despite his aforementioned comments, Zaheer Khan has shown belief in the team to be at their best in the upcoming six home games. "As a team, we are confident, you know, we accept that we've lost the game, and we're going to do whatever it takes to make that impact in the home leg. We still have six more games to go here," added Zaheer
Lucknow’s headache will be their captain Rishabh Pant’s form. The southpaw has scored only 17 runs in three matches at an egregious average of 5.66. Against Punjab, he came to bat at number four and got dismissed after scoring only two runs after playing five deliveries.
Pant is facing a lot of criticism for his underperformance as he is yet to justify the tag of the costliest player in the history of IPL. The left-handed batter got INR 27 crore at the mega auction 2025. However, the LSG team management will look to have faith in their captain to get impactful performances from him in the upcoming contests.
