Lucknow Pitch Controversy: The Indian Premier League between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Punjab Kings took place at the match number 13 of Lucknow in ‘Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium’ in Lucknow. The Punjab Kings team won by 8 wickets and 22 balls remaining on April 1. At the same time, after losing this match, Lucknow team mentor Zaheer Khan raised questions about Picht.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Zaheer Khan said after this match- it felt as if the opposition team had brought her own curator to prepare the pitch. Zaheer, quoting ESPNcricinfo, said in a press conference after the match- I was a little disappointed here ….
He said- This is a domestic match and you have seen in the IPL that teams try to take advantage of the home ground a little. From this point of view you must have seen that the curator was not really thinking that it is a domestic match, I think it seemed that it was a curator of Punjab Kings.
Zaheer said in a full-fledged manner- we will consider this, it is a new set-up for me, but I hope it will be the first and last match, because you are also disappointing the fans of Lucknow, they have brought great expectations to win the first domestic match here.
He said- We are confident as a team. We admit that we have lost the match and we have to make every effort to leave our impact in the home ground. We still have to play six more matches and this team has played a lot of cricket in the session so far, we have shown that we have the right approach and mentality to watch IPL. What you can expect is different thinking, struggle, hunger and this is our identity as a team.
Agli baar achhe se latenge 💙 pic.twitter.com/ekcugrocrrrr
– Lucknow Super GIANTS (@Lucknowipl) April 1, 2025
On reading the pitch incorrectly, Zaheer said- We are saying this, we will walk according to what the curator will say. We are not using it as an excuse. We have seen in the last season that it is not that the batsmen do not have to struggle here, all this goes on in cricket, but the way the domestic team should get support, everyone should know that this is our home team playing in Lucknow and what can we do to win them? The contribution of all is important. We will find a way to win the match.
Even LSG captain Rishabh Pant admitted in the presentation after the match that he was expecting a slow pitch, due to which he decided to field spinner M Siddharth in place of fast bowler Prince Yadav.
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By the way, due to injuries, the options of Lucknow team have become limulated. Therefore, LSG has probably preferred a pitch that is suited to spin or at least neutralize the fast bowling attack of Punjab Kings (PBKS). However, he fielded two main fast bowlers only, which included Shardul Thakur at the last minute, while his team consists of only one foreign fast bowler Shamar Joseph.