The Big IPL Debate: Home advantage a legit need of franchises in home/away format?

IPL 2025: Should IPL franchises be allowed to influence pitch preparation for home games? In a home-and-away format, is home advantage a fair request to BCCI?

One of the biggest franchise cricket tournaments in the world, the Indian Premier League (IPL), is played across multiple venues throughout the country. Each participating team gets an equal share of home and away matches, bringing both advantages and challenges.

Recently, following the inaugural match of IPL 2025 between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), speculations arose regarding the home team’s lack of advantage. The head pitch curator for the match, Sujan Mukherjee, firmly stated that no special home-ground advantages would be provided from his end.

This raises an important question: Is home advantage a legitimate necessity for IPL franchises?

Matches played by KKR at Eden Gardens in last three years 

It should be noted that home matches provide a significant boost to players, as they are already acclimatised to the prevailing conditions. Moreover, they receive strong support from spectators, which further enhances their confidence. However, beyond these factors, the primary advantage of playing at home is the ability to influence the nature of the pitch. For instance, in Australia, pitches naturally have more grass, allowing their pacers to dominate right from the start.

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BCCI and the home advantage debate, finding the right balance
As the highest authority in Indian cricket, the BCCI needs to take a strong stance to ensure a balance between bat and ball. Some intervention by the board can help maintain this balance in a way that prevents any team from misusing their right to influence the turf. On the other hand, curators should be given specific guidelines based on which they can prepare the wicket. If the board wants the game to be conducted fairly, it must establish the right regulations while considering the needs of all stakeholders.

What does the rule book say? 
As per the guidelines, the chief curator is responsible for the preparation of pitches. Players and franchises have no say in determining the nature of the wicket. Only the BCCI chief curator can intervene if necessary.

The franchise perspective
As far as franchises are concerned, it is a legitimate request to influence the nature of wickets. When mega auctions are held, franchises invest money largely based on the skill sets of the players. Hence, to fully capitalise on their potential, pitch curators should prepare wickets in consultation with the home team. 

For example, CSK invested in R. Ashwin for several years, knowing how lethal he could be at Chepauk. Therefore, to be fair to franchise owners, their input should be considered before preparing wickets for a match.

However, to ensure home-ground advantages are taken fairly, every team should follow this template to make the best use of the provisions. If even one team, like KKR, choose not to do so, the fairness of the system will be diluted.

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What does history depict?
One of the reasons why five-time champions Chennai Super Kings have been so dominant is that they have cracked this code. The management consistently invests in players who excel on spin-friendly and slow tracks, like those at Chepauk. By following this template, they manage to win roughly 66.66% of their home games, which ultimately makes their qualification easier.

For a street-smart cricketer like MS Dhoni, it is a no-brainer why he asks his management to invest heavily in skilled spinners like Mitchell Santner and Ravindra Jadeja.

Matches played by CSK at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in last three years 

However, on the contrary, Royal Challengers Bengaluru have lost plenty of home matches for this very reason. Their management has always invested in a star-studded batting lineup, but what they have consistently lacked is a strong bowling attack to contain runs at M. Chinnaswamy. Hence, despite having players like Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, and AB de Villiers, the team has failed on multiple occasions.

Matches played by RCB at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in last three years

Clearly, the mantra of both franchises is different, and that has ultimately made a significant difference.

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