Lucknow Super Giants mentor Zaheer Khan came down heavily at the Ekana Stadium ground staff following his team's shameful defeat against Punjab Kings. Khan said he was "disappointed" that the Lucknow curator was "not really thinking that it's a home game," even going so far as to call it the work of a "Punjab curator." "What was a little disappointing for me here, considering it's a home game..."Zaheer said. "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. "That's something which we'll figure out. It's a new setup for me also here. 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 much expectations of winning the first home game here. "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." At the post-match presentation, Rishabh Pant spoke of how LSG wanted to play PBKS on a "slow wicket". But the pitch looked anything but that when PBKS batters chased a modest target of 172 with 22 balls to spare. There was also not a great amount of help available for the spinners, with Ravi Bishnoi returning figures of 3-0-43-0.
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Before the start of play, Zaheer Khan had spent a lot of time at the pitch side with Pant, the captain of the side. Did they, by any chance, misread the surface? "See, we will go by what the curator says, no?," Zaheer said. "Not looking at it as an excuse. We have seen last season also, it's not that batters haven't had issues here and bowers haven't been on a roll. Those things happen in cricket. But in terms of support for the home team, everyone must be aware that this is our team that's playing in Lucknow and what we can do to ensure a victory. Everyone's contribution is necessary. That said, we will find a way to win."LSG have now lost two of their first three matches this season, with their home record slipping to just 7 wins in 15 completed games at the Ekana Stadium.
Across those 15 matches, a total of 200 has been breached only once and it's increasingly clear that the current state of the pitch isn't meeting the team's needs. "See, that's the nature of IPL, isn't it," Zaheer said. "You will be on the go, you'll be playing home games, away games. It was the first home game for us for this season, so yes, there were a lot of expectations and hopes. Punjab did outplay us, that's how the game goes. "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 IPL, to look at the games. What you can expect is innovation, out of the box thinking, the fight, the hunger. And I think, you know, that sums up, you know, that sums up a team." And I think, you know, that's something which we want to give it to the fans. We want to give it to the loyalists of Lucknow Super Giants. So that's how we are looking at things." 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.
