April 4, 2025: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer has addressed the ongoing debate about home advantage in the Indian Premier League (IPL), following the team’s impressive 80-run victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens. While Iyer doesn’t subscribe to the idea of preparing pitches to suit specific conditions, he acknowledged that it would be beneficial for KKR if the conditions at their home ground match their team’s requirements.
The discussion around pitch preparation gained momentum after KKR’s opening loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), where mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy was attacked on what some felt was an unhelpful pitch. Following that loss, KKR’s skipper Ajinkya Rahane requested spin-friendly tracks for their home games, but Eden Gardens’ pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee rejected the request, leading to further conversations about home advantage.
Despite this, Venkatesh Iyer emphasized the importance of adapting to any conditions, stating, “I don’t believe the pitch should be like this or that; we are professional cricketers, so we will adjust to it. But yeah, if we get the conditions we want in our home, it will be good for us.”
In KKR’s recent triumph, Venkatesh Iyer’s brilliant knock of 60 from just 29 balls, alongside Rinku Singh, helped the team set a daunting target of 200/6 after struggling at 122/4. Venkatesh spoke about the importance of assessing the pitch before launching an attack: “The messages that they (Ajinkya Rahane and Raghuvanshi) sent during the time-out, they made us understand that it’s not an easy pitch to just go out there and hit. You have to take your time. The ball was sticking a little, it was turning.”
Iyer credited the team’s ability to adapt to the pitch and work with it, allowing the middle-order to accelerate in the latter overs and post a strong total. As a result, Sunrisers Hyderabad struggled to chase down the target, eventually falling short by 80 runs.
Looking ahead, KKR will hope to continue their successful campaign and find the right balance between adapting to different pitches while securing victories at their home ground, Eden Gardens.