There’s been some chatter among the captains and coaches of various teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) about the folks who take care of the pitches at home games. Because of this, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has sent a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), asking them to consider banning commentators Harsha Bhogle and Simon Doull from calling matches at the Eden Gardens stadium. The CAB’s request came after Bhogle and Doull suggested that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) might want to look into moving their games to another venue, given the troubles with the pitch preparation not matching what the team needed.
According to a report by RevSportz, the CAB wasn’t too pleased with the comments from Doull and Bhogle, urging the BCCI to keep them from doing the commentary during the current IPL season. In a conversation on Cricbuzz, Doull mentioned that if the curator of the Eden Gardens wasn’t listening to what the KKR team wanted for the pitch, they should consider relocating. He pointed out that KKR is paying for the use of the stadium, and if the curator isn’t cooperating, moving might just be the best option. Doull was clear that the curator’s job shouldn’t include sharing personal opinions on how the game should be played.
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Bhogle also shared similar thoughts, saying that teams should get pitches that work for their bowlers, especially when they’re playing at home. He’s picked up on what the KKR curator has said before, suggesting that the home team should have better say about the pitch conditions.
On the other hand, the CAB is standing by the curator, Mukherjee, insisting that he hasn’t done anything wrong. They believe he’s just following the rules set out by the BCCI, which say that teams can’t tell a venue how to prepare their pitches. KKR’s captain, Ajinkya Rahane, had previously asked for pitches that favored spin bowlers, like Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, but it looks like the curator has kept the pitch more conducive for faster bowlers, leading to lots of high-scoring games.
The CAB feels confident that the curator is only acting according to the guidelines for pitch preparation. While there hasn’t been an official response from the BCCI yet, it seems that neither Bhogle nor Doull will be on commentary for the IPL game at Eden Gardens on Monday, where KKR is set to face the Gujarat Titans. It’s also worth mentioning that the IPL 2025 final is planned to take place at the Gardens on May 25, so the pitch situation might be something to keep an eye on!
