After their first home game defeat in IPL 2025 by eight wickets with 22 balls remaining of the match LSG’s mentor Zaheer Khan criticised the pitch conditions of their home ground. In his post-match press conference Zaheer declared strong claims about pitch conditions when he stated the opposition’s pitch appointment felt similar to a curator brought from outside.

According to ESPNcricinfo Zaheer said “What was a little disappointing for me here…” while the Indian pacer expressed his irritation about the field conditions that delivered advantages to Punjab Kings (PBKS) over home advantage.

Zaheer Khan Criticizes Lucknow Pitch, Questions Home Advantage

Team mentor Zaheer Khan expressed his dissatisfaction about the pitch conditions after Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) faced their first eight-wicket home loss during IPL 2025. Zaheer Khan showed his dissatisfaction because the court conditions failed to deliver the expected boost for home advantage. In response to playing on their home field the curator shows no regard for this match being a home contest.

Zaheer stated “Considering it’s a home game… the curator is not really thinking that it’s a home game. I think maybe it looked like, you know, it was Punjab curator out here.” During the post-match conference he requested Lucknow fans to receive proper pitch support from home facilities.

LSG’s Strategy Backfires As PBKS Pacers Dominate

LSG brought in M Siddharth instead of Prince Yadav because injury problems reduced their pace options while they expected the track to favour spin bowling. The PBKS side successfully used their fast bowling group consisting of Arshdeep Singh and Lockie Ferguson together with Marco Jansen who took five wickets during the match.

Zaheer said that “We are not using this as an excuse… but the way the home team should get support, everyone needs to know this is our home team that is playing in Lucknow and what can we do to help them win?” Captain Rishabh Pant and his men expected the track to be slow but did not perform well enough to turn that expectation into results.