Knight Riders' next home game to be played on new pitch

The Kolkata Knight Riders, currently topping the points table in the Indian Premier League, will play their next home match at the Eden Gardens on a new pitch after the original playing surface was criticised by players as unfit for play.

Kolkata's next match on April 29 against the Mumbai Indians will go ahead as scheduled, confirmed a team spokesperson, who angrily dismissed reports that the team's second home game may be postponed due to the pitch.

"The match will be held on an adjacent pitch, which has been developed for the match," Snehasish Ganguly, the joint secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, which is the host association for the Kolkata franchise, told Cricinfo. "The Eden has 10 pitches and this one is on the right of the surface that was used for the first game. There is no doubt that the game is going ahead as scheduled."

The historic Eden Gardens, which can seat around 90,000 spectators, has hosted only one IPL match, which was a low-scoring affair after the pitch began to crumble from the third over. Kolkata scored 112 for 5 in 19 overs to edge past Deccan Chargers, the visiting team, in that match on April 20. The pitch was later termed by VVS Laxman, the Hyderabad captain, as "shocking", by Adam Gilchrist, Laxman's deputy, as a "disgrace", and by Sourav Ganguly, the home team's skipper, as "bad".

The BCCI, which runs the IPL, has sent Daljit Singh, its pitches and grounds committee chairman, to Kolkata to help prepare the new surface in time for the match.