IPL 2025: Why champions need to feel at home
Teams looking for their first title have won less than 50% of their home matches. For multiple winners MI, CSK and KKR that number is between 57% and 66%
Kolkata: The IPL is played in the home-and-away format except for Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. For them, every venue can feel like home.
“Everywhere he goes, it’s yellow,” said pundit and former international Mpumelelo Mbangwa on television, as Eden exploded into cheers for Dhoni before Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) here on May 7. Through what was a must-win match for KKR, support for the already-eliminated away team came from every corner of the cricket cathedral.
When Shah Rukh Khan called him “the king of 22 yards” and the “winner of a billion hearts”, at the opening ceremony, also at Eden, on March 22, it felt like Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and not defending champions KKR, who were at home. When IPL resumes on Saturday it is likely to be the same, if not more following his retirement from Tests, when RCB travel to Lucknow on May 27.
This is at odds with tribalism in popular team sport. You will be walking alone if you are rooting for Declan Rice because he represents England from the Kop at Anfield when Arsenal visit Liverpool. Or, for Sunil Chhetri when he travels with Bengaluru FC to Kolkata’s Salt Lake stadium.
Ajinkya Rahane, though, has made his peace with it. “They have achieved so much, done great things for the country and franchises,” said the KKR skipper when asked about the support RCB and CSK get away from home because of Kohli and Dhoni.
But since 50% of the 14 league matches are played at venues of a team’s choosing, home advantage matters even in a competition where auctions cut into continuity and salary cap breeds equality. Data from Cricviz shows that CSK, Mumbai Indians (MI) and KKR, the only teams with multiple titles, have had at least 57% success record at home. CSK top the list with 66% with 52 wins from 79 matches at Chepauk in all IPL seasons in India. MI have won 68 of their 113 matches in Mumbai, a success rate of 60%. KKR’s home win percentage is 57%. Of 95 home matches since IPL began in 2008, KKR won 54 including five out seven in 2024.
In 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014, the champions (RR, CSK, MI and KKR in that order) were unbeaten at home. The tournament in 2014 being held in UAE and India meant KKR played four of their seven matches in Kolkata.
Teams still looking for their first title have won less than 50% of matches at home. Taken together, Delhi Daredevils and Delhi Capitals have fared the worst: 40 wins from 91 home games or a success rate of 44%. Punjab Kings (PBKS) and RCB are at 47%.
It was to understand the conditions better that PBKS held preparatory camps in Mullanpur and Dharamsala, said bowing coach James Hopes. He was speaking one day before PBKS defended the lowest-ever IPL score of 111, against KKR at home. Till IPL18 was suspended on May 8, PBKS had won three of their six home games. They are third in the standings.
PBKS are among three of the top four teams this season which have impressive home records. Leaders GT have won four of their five matches in Ahmedabad and MI’s resurgence stemmed from four wins in six matches at Wankhede.
The opposite is true for KKR, who have a foot on the exit door, and CSK. “Agar main abhi kuch bolunga na, toh bawal ho jayega (If I say something, it will create controversy),” said Rahane when asked whether the pitches at Eden Gardens suited KKR. Rahane’s comment that it would trigger mayhem if he spoke his mind came after KKR had lost two of their first three home games. By the time KKR finished their engagements at Eden, they would lose three more making it their joint-worst home season. One win from six matches in Chennai is the worst CSK have fared at home in IPL .
Rahane said he would share his thoughts on wickets with IPL. Dhoni has done that. “The Chennai wicket is slightly on the slower side… Maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better,” he said after CSK won in Lucknow.
And they are not the only ones ruing the lack of favourable conditions for the home team this term. Runners-up last year, Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori said surfaces were “little bit different” while explaining why, with a clutch of heavy-hitters, their batting has flopped. After the eight-wicket defeat to PBKS at home, Lucknow Super Gaints bowling coach Zaheer Khan said, “it almost felt like the Punjab curator was out there.”
Franchises cannot influence preparation of pitches because it is the responsibility of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) through its affiliated state units to do that.
At 43% (3 wins out of seven) in 2012, KKR hold the record for champions with the worst home run. It was the only time in India that the champions’ win percentage at home slipped below 57%. So, RCB will be breaking new ground if they get their first title without improving on their current mark of winning 40% of home matches (2 out of 5). But then, for RCB every venue feels like home.
