After Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants became the latest Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise to have expressed their dissatisfaction with their home pitch after the Zaheer Khan-mentored side suffered an eight-wicket hammering at the hands of Punjab Kings in Tuesday’s match played at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.

Visibly frustrated with the outcome, the former India left-arm quick said it seemed the Punjab Kings had brought their own curator to prepare the pitch as the tourists romped home with 22 balls to spare.

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“What was a little disappointing for me here…” Zaheer said at the press conference. “Considering it’s a home game and in IPL you’ve seen how teams have looked at taking a little bit of home advantage, from that point of view you’ve seen 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.”

“So that’s something which we will figure. It’s a new set-up also for me, but I hope that this is the first and the last game when it comes to that. Because you are disappointing the Lucknow fans as well. They’ve come up with so much expectations of winning the first home game here.”

“As a team, we are confident. We accept that we’ve lost the game, and we have got to do whatever it takes to make that impact in the home leg. We still have six more games to go here, and this team has shown in the season so far, whatever little cricket is played, that we have the right outlook and the mindset to look at the IPL. What you can expect is innovation, out-of-the-box thinking, the fight, the hunger, and that sums us up as a team,” he added.

Arshdeep Singh, who starred with a three-wicket haul for Punjab Kings, acknowledged the help from the pitch, while expressing his disappointment at leaking in excess of 40 runs during LSG’s innings. Besides Arshdeep, PBKS used the conditions well by employing their seam-bowling arsenal, comprising the likes of Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen and Marcus Stoinis to good effect.

In contrast, the home side, plagued by injuries to key players, mostly their pacers, had probably anticipated a slower surface, and thus went in with two seamers — Shardul Thakur and their lone overseas pacer Shamar Joseph.

On being asked if they might have misread the pitch in their first home game, Zaheer agreed, saying, “That’s what we are saying. We will go according to what the curator tells us. We are not using this as an excuse. We have seen during the last season that it’s not like batters don’t have to struggle here at times. All these things go on in cricket. 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? Everyone’s contribution is important. We will find a way anyway to win matches…”

At the post-match presentation, LSG skipper Rishabh Pant also spoke of his side expecting a ‘slow wicket’, while explaining his decision to go in with an extra spinner in M Siddharth instead of pacer Prince Yadav.

“The idea was to get a slower wicket. We felt it’s a home game, it’s going to stop a little bit. I think the slower ones, when bowled into the wicket, were still sticking in but we weren’t good enough on the day. We have got to learn and move forward. It is our first home game. Still assessing the conditions,” he said.

LSG have now lost two of their first three matches this season, with their home record slipping to just 7 wins in 15 completed games at the Ekana Stadium. They now await Mumbai Indians on April 4, hoping to get their campaign back on track.