IPL 2025: Home advantage comes in question as RCB lose two games at the Chinnaswamy

Seems like teams are finding it exceptionally hard to find the advantage at home in IPL 2025. Royal Challengers Bengaluru are the latest entrant in the list of teams that have opened up against the home conditions. The issue, or more of an observation, was first raised by the KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane following the season opener at the Eden Gardens. The captain of the defending champions hoped for the Eden turf to provide some more spin assistance to his players. Another instance cropped up as the CSK head coach, Stephen Fleming, expressed that the team is finding it difficult to read the conditions at home. Now, the RCB mentor, Dinesh Karthik, has rued the lack of support for his batters at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Chinnaswamy Stadium not aiding the RCB batters, highlights team mentor Dinesh Karthik

Following the KKR vs RCB IPL 2025 season opener, the Kolkata skipper, Ajinkya Rahane, noted the lack of assistance for spinners at the home ground. However, the simple observation turned into controversy when the pitch curator, Sujan Mukherjee, bashed the ask, saying that the KKR spinners were not good enough. Moving ahead, the CSK head coach, Stephen Fleming, expressed his disappointment in the Chepauk pitch after the team lost the match against RCB at home. The CSK coach went on to say that they have not been able to read the conditions at home for seasons now. In the latest update, RCB has raised a similar concern after losing their second game at home.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru have marked a shocking trend in IPL 2025. The team has beaten their opponents in their backyard, even claiming a first win at Chepauk in 17 years. However, their only fallings in the season so far have arrived at home. After being unbeaten for two games, Bengaluru's first defeat arrived in the RCB vs GT game, their first home fixture of the season. Next up, the team beat Mumbai Indians at Wankhede before returning home for the RCB vs DC IPL match. The home advantage stood in question as the team was bundled for a mere 163 at home, before KL Rahul roared at his home ground to take the game home for DC.

Following the match, player-turned-mentor, Dinesh Karthik, opened up on the role of their home turf. Known for its batting-friendly nature, Chinnaswamy is playing against its true nature this season, noted Karthik. The former wicket-keeper batter highlighted that despite asking for it several times, the Chinnaswamy pitch is not assisting their batters. In both the matches played so far at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB wrapped up their innings at below-par scores of 169 and 163 against GT and DC respectively.

“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," Karthik said. “But we will have a chat with him (the curator). We trust him to do his job. So, this isn’t 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.