Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bengaluru mentor Dinesh Karthik was not pleased with the pitch offered to the home side for their first two matches of the IPL 2025 season following a six-wicket defeat against Delhi Capitals at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
It was RCB’s second consecutive home loss, and Karthik was quick to call out the curator for not giving them “good pitches” as it was challenging for batters to bat on.
“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. But we will have a chat with him (curator). We trust him to do his job,” said Karthik in the post-match press conference.
“So, definitely, this is not 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.
Batting first, RCB were restricted to 163/7, with Phil Salt and Tim David playing identical knocks of 37 as Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav scalped two wickets apiece.
In the chase, KL Rahul’s masterclass 93 not out, studded with six sixes and seven fours, guided Delhi to their fourth consecutive win and kept their unbeaten streak intact in the tournament.
Karthik further said that drizzle during Delhi’s chase helped the pitch settle down and made it easier to bat on.
“It was a bit sticky, the pitch. After the first four overs and up until the 13th over, we were very much in the game. With the bat, we did have a wobble, but we found a way to get to a very decent score. They were struggling at 50 for 4,” he said.
“In the first game (vs GT), there was dew. So, it got a lot better to bat in the second innings. Today, there was not as much dew. Then, unluckily for us, a little bit of rain came. And then you could see the difference in the pitch. The shots that they played weren’t possible in the first innings,” the former wicketkeeper added.
(IANS)
