By: Meeter | March 21, 2025
Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru: It’s cricket’s biggest celebration! At the storied Eden Gardens, the 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) begins this Saturday night with a thrilling battle between the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and their bitter rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). KKR dominates at home and is a powerful presence among IPL powers. However, the RCB team is filled with talent and, when in form, can put on fantastic shows. This opener is sure to be spicy.
Date: March 2nd, 2025
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
The Kolkata Knight Riders have won four of their past five games with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, giving them the advantage in recent meetings. The last time RCB defeated them was in March 2022. Although both teams have powerful hitters who can change the course of a match, RCB’s bowling appears less dependable than Kolkata’s, particularly given their strong spin attack. The reigning champions go into the season opener as favorites to win because of their solid record versus RCB and the benefit of playing at home.
The average score in the first innings at Eden Gardens is typically 167, but last season was different. Eight totals reached the 200-run mark at the site, indicating a trend toward higher-scoring matches. This time, the pitch is probably going to stay favorable for hitters, and teams batting first will try to hit a target between 210 and 220 because the ground’s boundaries are shorter.
Total Match: 35
KKR Won: 21
RCB Won: 14
Ajinkya Rahane(c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Impact Player), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, and Varun Chakravarthy
Virat Kohli, Phil Salt (Impact Player), Rajat Patidar(c), Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Liam Livingstone, Tim David, Swapnil Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, and Suyash Sharma