Until the 13th over during Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) chase in their IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Eden Gardens on Tuesday, the game sat in the home team’s dug-out. But Ajinkya Rahane & Co lost their way and suffered a narrow defeat.
After the game, Rahane, the KKR captain, came for the press conference and a question on ‘home advantage’ duly arrived. His answer to that was: “There has been enough talk about the wicket. If I say something, it will create a big controversy. Let me just keep it that way. Our curator (Sujan Mukherjee) has got a lot of publicity. I think he is happy with that publicity.”
On Wednesday morning, RevSportz exclusively spoke to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Snehasish Ganguly. In a candid conversation, he touched upon issues like the Eden pitch, ‘home advantage’ in T20 cricket, the pitch curator and Rahane’s comment. Excerpts:
Q: Starting with yesterday’s game between KKR and LSG, not only as the CAB president, but also as a former Bengal player of repute, what was your assessment of the Eden pitch?
A: Absolutely fantastic wicket. 470 runs (LSG 238/3, KKR 234/7). So, what more can I assess about the Eden Gardens pitch?
Q: A T20 game lasts for 40 overs and during that course, the nature of the pitch doesn’t change. So, all the pitch-talk and ‘home advantage’, are they at all relevant in T20 cricket?
A: If you talk about a normal T20 game, be it the IPL, international game or even if it’s a club match, why (do) people come to see? Because they want some exciting batting, exciting shots, exciting sixes – that’s why they want to come to enjoy (a) T20 game. When they come to a T20 game, they come to the ground with a different mindset. Now, if you come back to the KKR game; KKR have been playing at Eden Gardens for the last 18 years. Last year, they won five out of their seven (home) matches. Same conditions and pitches. Our curator is so experienced.
Now, I don’t want to enter into these controversies because I’m not very much
aware what comments somebody has made, what comments from the other side have come. I’m not very much aware of (this) because I have not got their conversations in front of me. Whatever I’m coming to learn, (that is) either from the media or a couple of lines from the newspapers. So, on the basis of that, I can’t make comments on anything. But see, Eden Gardens wickets are always a good wicket. In the last three matches, we had some excellent batting displays. Yesterday also, everybody enjoyed the match.
Also Read: Rahane on Eden pitch: “Our curator enjoys publicity and is happy with that”
Q: Even in this heat, more than 45,000 fans turned up to watch the game. And it was an afternoon game.
A: Yeah, it was more than 50,000. And they saw superb batting by Mitchell Marsh. By (Aiden) Markham. Then superb batting by Nicholas Pooran. What an innings! Then superb batting by Ajinkya Rahane, he played a brilliant knock. Rinku Singh – outstanding hitting of the ball. So, it was an exciting match. It was a tremendous match. So, I don’t know about these comments; whether the comments have actually been made.
I don’t know because I was not in the press conference, nor have any press conference clippings come to me. I just came to know in the evening through some media that some comments have been made. Whether it’s true, whether it’s right, I don’t know. But we always try to give neutral wickets. Okay. I think Sujan da is so experienced, no intervention is required from the association.
Q: Was there any pressure on Sujan da from the CAB in terms of preparing a certain kind of pitch?
A: I told you just now that the CAB does not interfere with any matter about the pitch. Because he (curator) is so experienced. The CAB has got the best ground awards a couple of times in the recent past. So why should we interfere?
Q: About Rahane’s comment at the press conference yesterday, with him suggesting the Eden curator seemingly enjoys publicity, would you like to say anything on that?
A: Don’t know what Rahane has said, because the clipping is not with me. If the clipping is with the CAB, then we will decide whether we need to make any comment or not.
Q: Before signing off, any plans to renovate Eden Gardens before next year’s T20 World Cup?
A: We have got some plans, but we will be waiting for the lease agreement to be renewed. So, once that agreement is renewed, then we will make the plans for renovation. But the design is almost ready.
Also Read: Pooran Power Prevails Again as LSG Edge KKR in Run-Fest
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