Dinesh Karthik, the batting coach for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, is the latest to raise concerns over the pitch preparations in IPL 2025. After the team lost consecutive home games, the former India and RCB wicketkeeper-batter expressed grave reservations about the surfaces being used at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Karthik disclosed that although the squad had asked for batting-friendly surfaces, they were given difficult decks that neutralized their formidable line-up.
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“In the first two games, we have asked for good pitches. But it’s turned out in this way where it’s been challenging to bat on. So, we try to do the best with whatever we get,” Karthik said in the post-match press conference.
RCB was limited to subpar totals of 169/8 and 163/7 in both games against the Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals, respectively. The star batsmen were unable to get going on surfaces that provided minimal pace and even bounce.
Karthik made a suggestion that the team would soon start talking about the playing conditions with the stadium curator.
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“But we will have a chat with him (the curator). We trust him to do his job. So, this isn’t a pitch that’s helping the batters too much. It’s a challenging pitch. So that has been the case so far in both the games that we have played,” he added.
Press conferences have been dominated by the conversation about pitches throughout the season. Chandrakant Pandit, the head coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, was one of the first to criticize the pitches being set up at the Eden Gardens, saying they didn’t play to the team’s strengths.
Sangabad Pratidin, a Bengal-based newspaper, said earlier this week that the KKR management was so annoyed by the arguments over pitch preparations that one of their officials mocked CAB by telling one of its members that the curator should have won Player of the Match following the team’s four-run home loss to the Lucknow Super Giants.
Stephen Fleming of the Chennai Super Kings has also expressed dissatisfaction with the pitches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, and Zaheer Khan, the bowling coach for LSG, stated earlier this season that the Lucknow surface favored the opponent over the home team following a defeat to Punjab Kings.