Ekana pitch scripts a turnaround

All is well that ends well—the saying goes true for the 22-yard-strip of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium where hosts Lucknow Super Giants notched up a thrilling 12-run win, their first on home turf, on Friday night.

- Sharad Deep

LUCKNOW:

The red soil pitch here had come in for sharp criticism from home team mentor Zaheer Khan. The former India pacer had even accused the curator (Sanjeev Agarwal) of creating a pitch for the Punjab Kings after LSG lost their first home game by eight wickets on Tuesday night.

But everyone was singing a different tune after the team's win over five-time champions MI on Friday night.

After scoring 203, LSG managed to restrict MI to 191/5.

"Honestly, both pitches here have been great for the last couple of years. After the last game, there was some emotion about the pitch. But I've really liked coaching here. It's nice to see some variation in how the games go. It's probably best if we don't dwell too much on the pitch issues," LSG's coach Justin Langer said after the match.

"We have got to focus on playing good cricket. Throughout the IPL, the pitches have been of very high standard," Langer added.

The 54-year-old gave the example of the last Lucknow game against Punjab to prove his point.

"The scores have been high because of good pitches. That game the other night (in which Zaheer criticised the pitch and curator) was still a high-scoring match," he said.