Punjab Kings’ pace bowling coach James Hopes made a solemn promise of home advantage in cricket before his team’s IPL 2025 match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Cricket Stadium here Tuesday.
James Hopes on Home-Ground Advantage
“I think it’s fine to have a home-ground advantage. If that home ground advantage is you have a spin-heavy attack and you can play on a spinning wicket, that’s fine.
At the end of the day, you only play one game there [at an away ground]. You’ve just got to prepare accordingly and try to combat that,” said Hopes at the pre-match press conference.
James Hopes Highlights Lucknow Pitch Could Favor Spinners
James Hopes also estimated that the Lucknow pitch will be a competitive pitch while conceding that it may play out in accordance with the home team’s bowling combination.
“At the moment, it looks pretty good. It’s changed a lot over the last few days. We know that they [LSG] have had their injuries on the pace front. We know they were spin-heavy in the first game. We’ll just have to wait until tomorrow night to see whether they go spin heavy again,” added Hopes.
Shahbaz Ahmed’s Take on Ekana Surface
LSG all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed said that the Ekana surface will allow for an even contest between bat and ball.
“I feel this pitch will help both batters and bowlers. Also, this is a big ground, which will help the bowlers. It might aid pacers in the beginning, but batters will have their chances later on.
Compared to other grounds, I think Ekana will favour the bowlers. It might be high-scoring, but it won’t be like it is in Hyderabad or other grounds,” said Shahbaz.
With both teams studying the conditions of the pitch and planning their strategies accordingly, the next game is set to be an intense battle. Punjab Kings will attempt to adjust according to the conditions, while Lucknow Super Giants will try to take advantage of their home conditions. As both teams gear up for the clash, everyone’s eyes will be on how the pitch behaves and which team gets their game strategy right on game day.