Shah Rukh to fly in Australian pitch expert

Kolkata Knight Riders may be on a high after two consecutive wins in the IPL, but all is not well at the home ground of Shah Rukh Khan’s team.

Kolkata Knight Riders may be on a high after two consecutive wins in the IPL, but all is not well at the home ground of Shah Rukh Khan’s team. A day after his team clinched a thrilling win at the Eden Gardens, the Bollywood superstar is learnt to have got cracking over the much-criticised Eden pitch.

In fact, SRK is now planning to fly in renowned Australian curator Les Burdett to let the pitch consultant take stock of the two-paced Kolkata track that caused yesterday’s low-scoring affair, disclosed Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Prasun Mukherjee. The CAB chief was briefed about the development by Knight Riders co-owner Jay Mehta.

“I told him (Mehta) that we have no problems with that (approaching Burdett). At the moment the pitch is being prepared by our local curators under the supervision of chief national curator Daljit Singh. They can all jointly decide on the remedy,” Mukherjee told reporters.

Story continues below this ad

Burdett was flown in last month by the BCCI for expert opinion on how to prepare pitches for Twenty20 cricket. Last evening, Knight Riders’s Ricky Ponting had told reporters that the Eden curator had apologised to him and the team for the two-paced pitch.

•PTI adds: The West Bengal government today constituted a three-member committee to probe mismanagement at the Eden Gardens. Announcing the decision, the state’s sports minister Subhas Chakraborty said the committee would look into the reasons for the disruption in power supply which had halted the match for 31 minutes as also the non-availability of drinking water on the ground.

Sources in the LJP (RV) said the names of the remaining 15 candidates would also be announced very soon.

Bihar polls: Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas) announces first list of 14 candidates

India19 min ago

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) announced its first list of 14 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls, with its state unit chief Raju Tiwary and leader Hulas Pandey among the nominees. As per the seat-sharing arrangement, LJP (RV) will contest 29 seats, while BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each. The remaining 15 candidates will be announced soon.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS