The pitch at Eden Gardens in this year’s IPL is not just the centre of action during matches, but also before it, as the home team digs deep to extract home advantage.

Going into the Kolkata Knight Riders’ previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad last Thursday, the 22-yard strip was the most talked about subject. Then Ajinkya Rahane and Co. were given a dry wicket where they cantered to victory against the 2024 runners-up.

The win, however, did not put an end to the pitch saga.

The Knights wanted similar characteristics in the pitch to be used for Tuesday’s game against Lucknow Super Giants. That put the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) ground staff in a bit of a fix.

The pitch for Tuesday wasn’t supposed to be as dry as the one used last Thursday, but the grass content has been reduced to almost the bare minimum.

The CAB groundsmen, though, claim this wicket will not be as dry as the one used for the Sunrisers clash. “Yes, the grass has been trimmed further. Yet, the grass cover is quite even on this wicket, so it won’t be dry like the one of Thursday,” one of them told The Telegraph on Monday, the eve of the Knights’ clash against the Super Giants.

“Strokeplay should thus be easier, and teams will have to bat really badly to not reach 190 at least. As for the spinners, they will get a bit of turn and may get more purchase on bowling slower through the air.”

The Knights, however, remain hopeful that the track will not be too different from that of their previous game. “Look, we’ve, of course, got a very strong squad. The pitch, hopefully, will play like it did in the last game,” assistant coach Ottis Gibson said.

“It’s a day game, so the pitch might not change too much over the course of the 40 overs. But, you know, we’ve started to prepare ourselves to play on any type of surface. If the surface is similar to the one that we had in the last game, then hopefully, that will benefit us.”

The Super Giants, on the other hand, are ready for a wicket that could be handy for the tweakers. “Usually, during Ranji Trophy, batting against the red ball on the wicket here isn’t easy. But, looking at this wicket and having watched the last match here, it seems that the ball will hold a little bit,” said Super Giants’ spinner all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, who does have a fair knowledge of the Eden conditions like his teammate Akash Deep as both play for Bengal in the domestic circuit.

“...Don’t think it will turn, though, but the wicket will be a little slow. So, it’s good for the bowlers. But since it’s a day game, batting first or second won’t matter much, and compared to Lucknow, it’s a smaller ground. So, there is hope for runs. But it will be helpful for the spinners,” Shahbaz pointed out.

If the Knights have Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy as well as Moeen Ali (if he retains his place in the XI) to intimidate the opposition, Lucknow too have the impressive Digvesh Rathi and Ravi Bishnoi to obtain some purchase from the wicket.

Narine form

With the bat, Narine hasn’t been at his sharpest so far in this IPL, aggregating only 51 in three innings and being unable to post a double-digit score in each of his last two innings. It remains to be seen if the Knights will have a new opening combination on Tuesday or not, but they are certainly backing Narine to come good.

“There’s no concern whatsoever. We know what Sunil can do. We know what he did last year.

“It’s still early days in the tournament. We’re still trying to, as a team, establish some consistency. But we know that Sunil Narine, on his day, can take apart any bowling attack, and we look forward to that happening,” Gibson emphasised.

Pant factor

For Lucknow, skipper Rishabh Pant’s current form appears to be a worry as he hasn’t even accumulated 27 runs in this edition (19, to be precise) after being roped in at a record ₹27 crore.

“We know how dangerous he (Pant) can be. But, of course, he hasn’t had any form yet, and we hope that continues this week as well. So, we’ve planned for every possibility. If he opens or changes position, we’ve planned for all of that,” Gibson said about Pant.

The Super Giants believe it’s a matter of time before their captain scores in a “crunch” game. The Knights will hope that time doesn’t arrive on Tuesday.