In this edition of IPL, home advantage is a pipe dream

Delhi Capitals coach Hemang Badani did not intend to make a sweeping statement about the Indian Premier League when he said, “We play this venue (Feroz Shah Kotla) as an away venue” after registering only their second win at home.

- Samreen Razzaqui

Yet, in one sentence, he may have captured a growing reality of the tournament—home venues no longer present the advantage or certainty they once used to.

For years, franchises built identities around their home grounds. While Chennai Super Kings mastered Chepauk’s slow turners, Mumbai Indians leaned into the bounce and pace of the Wankhede, KKR preferred surfaces that gripped and suited their spin-heavy attacks. As a result, teams were constructed for ‘home.’

Earlier, coaches and captains knew what conditions awaited them and picked their squads accordingly. Badani’s frustration this season stems from the exact opposite. “It should at least be where you know what you're expecting,” he said after Delhi's latest home outing against RR. “Here we didn’t know what this surface was going to do to us.”