The very essence of the Indian Premier League is home advantage, roaring local fan bases and iconic fortresses. The madness of Wankhede, the intimidation of Eden Gardens, the batting paradise of Chinnaswamy and the fortress of Chepauk. But in the past few seasons, something bizarre has been unfolding—the concept of ‘home advantage’ has been increasingly diminishing, with teams no longer dominating at home, instead frequently losing.
Several factors come into play, and at the forefront is the ‘pitch’ with franchises vocalising about a lack of collaboration with the pitch curators. At the forefront of this growing anomaly is Kolkata Knight Riders, it all started when skipper Ajinkya Rahane, in a surprisingly candid press conference. earlier this season, admitted that the team would prefer a spin-friendly surface at the Eden Gardens to which the pitch curator replied, “As long as I’m here, Eden Gardens pitch will not change,” highlighting BCCI’s rule that clearly read that franchises should not have a say over the pitch.
Later, Stephen Fleming, Chennai Super Kings coach, echoed this concern, admitting that over the last two years, CSK have struggled to read home conditions at Chepauk and don’t feel like they have a true ‘home advantage’ anymore.
Cut to last night at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. RCB, who have been dominating with their batting unit in away games, lost their second game on the trot at home in 2025. Captain Rajat Patidar later admitted that the pitch wasn’t what they expected. It’s interesting to also look back on the WPL where the RCB women lost all their home games in the last season.
So what exactly is going on?
The Numbers Tell a Story
Let’s look at the teams and their home records in the last three seasons:
CSK: 11 wins 7 losses
DC: 9 wins 7 losses
GT: 10 wins 8 losses
KKR: 8 wins 9 losses
LSG: 8 wins 7 losses
MI: 9 wins 7 losses
PBKS: 4 wins 12 losses
RCB: 7 wins 9 losses
RR: 7 wins 8 losses
SRH: 7 wins 9 losses
2023 Home Records
- Total: 30 wins – 42 losses for home teams
- Only CSK (5-3), GT (5-4), and MI (5-2) had a winning home record.
- Teams like KKR (2-5), PBKS (2-5), and SRH (1-6) severely underperformed at home.
2024 Home Records
- Total: 39 wins – 28 losses
- Better year overall, with KKR (5-2), SRH (5-1), and DC (5-2 across two venues) leading the way.
- But inconsistencies remained: PBKS went 1-6, MI 3-4.
2025 So Far
- Total: 11 wins – 13 losses
- RCB: 0-2 at home, despite dominating on the road. But KKR and CSK lost more games than they won at home
- Only DC remains unbeaten at home (2-0).
Zooming out, only three teams out of the 10 franchises—CSK, GT, and MI have a convincing home record in the past three seasons, the other franchises have been hovering around mediocrity or have worse home records than away. Punjab Kings being the worst of them with 4 wins in 16 home games. Even in 2023, the trend of home advantage had been a downward slope, with 7 out of 10 franchises having losing home records.
Are Pitches a problem?
BCCI has strict guidelines, taking into consideration television broadcasting pressure for high-scoring thrillers that get eyeballs, teams do not get the liberty to dictate pitch conditions. The guidelines clearly state that the pitch curators are the sole decision makers of the conditions, there should be no ‘excessive spin’ and that there should be good pace and carry.
But when you really look at it, with years of footage, match-ups, and video analytics available for every player and venue, the idea of a ‘mystery pitch’ is gone. Opposing teams walk in well-prepared, knowing the dew factor, short boundaries, and the pace of the wicket better than the home teams at times. At the end of the day, the match result also rests on who reads the pitch better.
The other factor is team combination, teams often don’t have the right combination to exploit their own conditions. Take KKR for example, while they have the spin duo of Varun Chakravarty and Sunil Narine, who performed brilliantly on the spinning deck of Guwahati, their batters struggle against spin.
Auctions and team strategies also come into play here. While the pitches remain more or less the same—like at the Eden Gardens. IPL auction dynamics change rapidly over the years, and franchises may not be able to bag the right team combination that perfectly suits their home conditions.
Could it also be that teams are under pressure when playing at home? The energy of a home crowd might be a double-edged sword. More than the crowd, is it the pressure of getting the conditions right?
While captains and coaches complain about not having ‘home advantage’, the phenomenon begs a deeper question: should the IPL reintroduce more team control over pitch conditions? Should teams get to choose or tailor their surfaces based on the core strengths of the team? If they do so, they will have only themselves to blame if things go sideways.
Either way, home isn’t home anymore, and the concept of ‘fortresses’ in the IPL is slowly diminishing. The teams have to work on reading conditions better and try to build a team that suits those conditions. Meanwhile, the home crowd will be cheering for miracles—no longer domination.