Kolkata Knight Riders will host Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens on April 3. Ahead of that, reports suggest that the surface will favour the spinners in the blockbuster clash. It won’t be a low-scoring affair but neither a 230 kind of a surface.
Eden Gardens pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee was the scanner in the last week. After defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders lost their opening game to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, captain Ajinya Rahane indirectly requested a surface that favours the spinners, but interestingly, Sujan turned it down. He stated that the nature of the surface won’t change and highlighted that RCB spinners had no problem and asked KKR to do better.
His reaction wasn’t well received as experts such as Harsha Bhogle and Simon Doull called him out. They noted that the curator shouldn’t advise the teams but rather prepare something that benefits the hosts. Since then, Sujan has been put under tremendous pressure as CAB president Snehasish Ganguly too had a couple of chats with the curator.
As things stand, two separate pitches are being prepared for the match between KKR and SRH, slated to take place on April 3. As per reports, the wickets are in sharp contrast to the one that was in use for the RCB game. One of the surfaces has minimal grass while the other one doesn’t have any. It will be drier in nature and is likely to be under the covers.
Nevertheless, Snehasish confirmed that it would be a good track. Sujan meanwhile highlighted that the grass has been cut but won’t call it a barren field.
“It will be a good pitch,” Shenasish told The Telegraph.
“It’s not a completely dry turf. Yes, the extra amount of grass has been cut. That’s one reason why it’s looking so dry. But one can’t call it a barren wicket,” Sujan added.
One of the CAB officials confirmed that the drier pitch is very likely to be used for the RCB game and added that only a little water was sprinkled on the surface. The other one however underwent heavy watering and it can be used for the LSG game.
Notably, if the drier surface is used for the RCB game and if it indeed remains under the covers at night, the spinners will heavily benefit.
