The Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Kolkata Knight Riders 7 wickets. Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar steered the side to victory with 22 balls to spare. The visitors barring the a short passage of play in the first innings were spot on. Krunal Pandya was the star with the ball in hand while Salt and Kohli registered half-centuries to win the match. RCB has earned two points and have taken the first spot on the points table after the first game of IPL 2025.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 138/2 in 14 overs. Need 37 runs in 36 balls. Kohli: 57* (34), Patidar: 12* (9)
Rajat Patidar smashing spinners is a pretty usual sight. He is unarguably the best RCB batter against the slow bowlers. Leading the side, the right-handed batter came to the crease in a pretty comfortable position. However, he still played his shots to ensure that the run-scoring tempo does not drop against Sunil Narine.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 119/2 in 12 overs. Need 56 runs in 48 balls. Kohli: 49* (29)
Devdutt Padikkal has entered the game as an impact player late in the first innings. However, the left-handed batter did not make a great impact and was dismissed after playing a run-a-ball 10-run knock.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 115/1 in 11 overs. Need 60 runs in 54 balls. Kohli: 47* (27), Padikkal: 9* (8)
Varun Chakravarthy has a rather unusual night as he goes for 43 runs in his four overs. The Indian spinner looked off-colour from his very first over. He failed to bowl at consistent spots. Could be dew that is preventing the spinner to maintain a strong grip over the ball.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 104/1 in 10 overs. Need 71 runs in 10 overs. Kohli: 38* (23), Padikkal: 7* (6)
The wicket of Phil Salt has allowed the duo of Chakravarthy and Narine to bowl a couple of cheap overs. The stand between Padikkal and Kohli has accounted for nine runs in as many balls. The left-handed batter broke the shackles by smashing Narine for a four to end his second over.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 96/1 in 9 overs. Need 79 runs in 11 overs. Kohli: 36* (20), Padikkal: 1* (3)
KKR’s mystery spinner, Varun Chakravarthy broke the opening stand by dismissing Phil Salt. The right-arm spinner had proven to be expensive in his spell so far. With this wicket he has opened the door for KKR. However, with Kohli still at the crease the game is still in RCB’s grasp.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 91/0 in 8 overs. Need 84 runs in 12 overs. Salt: 52* (28), Kohli: 36* (20)
Virat Kohli and Phil Salt’s unbeaten opening stand has put the visitors in control of the match. The duo would be looking to finish this chase quickly to boost up their net run rate. Sunil Narine is into the attack and would need to weave his magic if KKR wishes to stage a comeback in the clash.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 80/0 in 6 overs. Need 95 runs in 14 overs. Salt: 49* (23), Kohli: 29* (13)
For the better part of the powerplay, Virat Kohli was just a bystander as Phil Salt went hard against his former franchise. However, in the fifth over, the chase master joined his opening partner in bashing the hosts. He smashed two sixes off Spencer Johnson’s bowling. Both sixes were pretty identical to each other as Kohli went down the ground to fetch two maximums.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 58/0 in 4 overs. Need 117 runs in 16 overs. Salt: 44* (19), Kohli: 12* (5)
Varun Chakravarhty comes into the attack to stop the flow of boundaries from the Kohli-Salt duo. However, the English batter looks in great touch and is dealing in fours and sixes only. He greeted the Indian mystery spinner with three fours and a six.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 37/0 in 3 overs. Salt: 24* (14), Kohli: 11* (4)
Ex-KKR opening batter, Phil Salt has taken the charge against his previous franchise. Salt has gone pretty hard in the opening powerplay, especially against Vaibhav Arora. The right-arm pacer was greeted with a four and a six on the first two balls of his second over. Kohli too joined the part by flicking a four before Salt ended the over with another boundary.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru score 12/0 in 1 over. Salt: 5* (4), Kohli: 6* (2)
Vaibhav Arora’s first ball in the 18th season of the IPL was met with a ferocious drive by Phil Salt. However, the right-arm pacer made a strong comeback in the over. Virat Kohli ended the over on a strong note by picking up six runs on the last two deliveries.
Kolkata Knight Riders score 174 in 20 overs. Ramandeep: 6* (9), Johnson: 1* (1)
Josh Hazlewood bowls a cheap 20th over. The experienced Australian pacer gave only five runs in the final and picked up the wicket of Harshit Rana. He ended his four-over spell with two wickets to his name while going for only 22 runs.
Kolkata Knight Riders score 169/7 after 19 overs. Ramandeep: 6* (9), Harshit: 1* (1)
Angkrish Raghuvanshi was looking to provide the finishing touch to the Knight Riders’ innings. The young right-handed batter played an aggressive knock after the defending champions had lost wickets in quick succession. He was dismissed by Yash Dayal after scoring 30 runs in 22 balls.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 156/6 after 17.2 overs. Raghuvanshi: 22* (17), Ramandeep: 3* (5)
Liam Livingstone bowling the 17th over is evidence of the behaviour of the pitch and the conditions at Eden Gardens. Spinners and off pace deliveries seem to be troubling the batters. Would be interesting to see how Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy fare on this pitch.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 150/6 after 15.4 overs. Raghuvanshi: 19* (12)
Andre Russell had often stood like a wall stopping RCB from getting a victory. However, Suyash Sharma after bowling three expensive overs struck gold for the visitors. Playing against his former franchise the young leg spinner has got rid of arguably KKR’s best batter. Russell maaneged to score a boundary in the over but was bowled on the very next delivery.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 145/5 after 15 overs. Raghuvanshi: 18* (11)
Krunal Pandya with his double-strike turned the game on its head. His timely strikes not only brought new batters on the crease but also stopped the flow of runs. He ended his spell by dismissing Rinku Singh on the final delivery of his fourth over. The left-arm orthodox conceded 29 runs in his spell.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 141/4 after 14 overs. Raghuvanshi: 16* (9), Rinku: 10* (6)
The quick wickets of Narine, Rahane, and Venkatesh has somewhat pushed KKR to the backfoot. The defending champions would need Rinku Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi to bail them out with a steady stand.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 125/4 after 12.1 overs. Raghuvanshi: 10* (4)
Krunal Pandya gets his second wicket in the form of Venkatesh Iyer. KKR’s vice-captain departs for a single-digit score.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 124/3 after 12 overs. Iyer: 6* (6), Raghuvanshi: 10* (4)
Sunil Narine departs after playing a hard-hitting knock. The left-handed opening batter scored 44 runs in 26 balls hitting five fours and three sixes. He had smashed Rasikh for a four and a six in the 10th over. However, the pacer came back strongly to dismiss him on the final delivery of the over.
Half-centurion, Ajinkya Rahane too made the long walk back to the pavilion in the following over. Krunal Pandya accounted for his wicket as he tried to play a slog sweep but found the fielder and was caught after making 56 runs in 31 balls.
Suyash Sharma is struggling to maintain his speed, line and length against his former side. The young leg spinner has conceded 41 runs in his three overs so far.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 74/1 after 8 overs. Narine: 22* (19), Rahane: 45* (24)
The Royal Challengers are in desperate need of a wicket here. The start to Rajat Patidar’s captaincy stint has been pretty ordinary. He will be tested against this partnership and he would be looking over his shoulders to find the bowler who could break this partnership.
Will Patidar turn to Liam Livingstone? He often has been the man with the golden arm for the different teams he has represented.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 65/1 after 7 overs. Narine: 17* (15), Rahane: 44* (22)
Ajinkya Rahane seems to be batting at a completely different surface. He is playing a blinder and has already played a captain’s knock. On the opposite end, Sunil Narine who is known for his aggressive batting is scoring slightly faster than a run-a-ball rate.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 60/1 after 6 overs. Narine: 17* (15), Rahane: 39* (16)
Quinton de Kock’s dismissal does not put a brake on KKR’s run scoring. Ajinkya Rahane has led from the front since the South African’s dismissal. He is playing an aggressive brand of cricket something which was witnessed during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well. He has already smashed eight boundaries in his 16-ball stay during the powerplay. Troubling signs for RCB’s new skipper, Rajat Patidar.
Kolkata Knight Riders is at 4/1 after 1 over. De Kock: 4 (5), Narine: 0* (0)
The first runs and boundary of IPL 2025 came from the bat of Quinton de Kock. It was a cut shot on the second ball with Josh Hazlewood being on the receiving end. However, Hazlewood came back strongly in the same over by dismissing the South African wicketkeeper.
RCB won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Eden Gardens.
Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Spencer Johnson
Virat Kohli, Phil Salt (wk), Rajat Patidar (C), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Yash Dayal
Note down the changes in the playing 11 of both sides and make the required changes in your KKR vs RCB Dream 11 prediction.
Both Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru feature some of the best players in their respective lineups. These players have been match-winners in the past meetings between the two sides. Players like Virat Kohli, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine have been a part of this rivalry for a long period of time.
The overall KKR vs RCB head-to-head record has been dominated by the Knight Riders. The three-time champions have emerged victorious in 20 out of the 34 games. Even in the past five meetings, KKR has emerged victorious on four occasions.
Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (impact player), Ajinkya Rahane (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora
Virat Kohli, Phil Salt (wk), Devdutt Padikkal (impact player), Rajat Patidar (C), Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma
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