KKR meet RCB in IPL 2025 opener: Preview and stats
What's the story
The much-awaited IPL 2025 season will begin with a cracker of a match between defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
The opening game will be held at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on March 22.
The clash is a nostalgic throwback to the first IPL season where both teams met for the first time.
Here is the preview.
Leadership changes
New captains for KKR and RCB
Both KKR and RCB will have new captains this year as the dynamics were changed at the mega auction.
Veteran Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane has been named the captain for KKR, while Rajat Patidar will be at the helm for RCB this season.
This change in leadership makes the opening match of the tournament all the more exciting.
Pitch conditions
Streaming and pitch details
Eden Gardens's flat surface and perfect bounce make it a batsman's paradise. But as the match goes on, the pitch tends to slow down, helping spinners.
Out of 93 IPL matches played at this venue, teams batting first have won 38 times while chasing teams have emerged victorious on 55 occasions.
Star Sports will telecast the match, fans can also live-stream it on the JioHotstar app or website.
Information
Will weather impact the game?
While the weather forecast indicates a possibility of rain during the KKR vs RCB game, it shouldn't be enough to halt the match completely. The temperature is likely to hover in the mid-20s during the course of the match.
Head-to-head
Here is the head-to-head record
Over the years, the KKR-RCB rivalry has been nothing short of thrilling.
In their previous encounters, KKR has won 20 out of 34 matches, while RCB has emerged victorious on 14 occasions, as per ESPNcricinfo.
This record makes for an interesting stage for their upcoming clash at Eden Gardens.
At home, the defending champions have eight wins and four defeats against the team.
The two teams met twice last year, and KKR prevailed on both occasions.
Team news
Probable playing XIs for KKR vs RCB
KKR (probable XI): Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Vaibhav Arora.
RCB(probable XI): Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal.
Impact subs: Suyash Sharma and Mayank Markande.
Stats
Here are the key players
Virat Kohli's record against KKR is phenomenal as he scored a whopping 962 runs against them at 38.48.
Known for his ability to swing the new ball, Bhuvneshwar Kumar boasts the most powerplay wickets in IPL history (71).
Patidar had a strike rate of 197.24 against spinners in IPL 2024.
Sunil Narine has taken a phenomenal 26 wickets vs RCB at an economy of 6.68.
Varun Chakravarthy has taken the most wickets against the Challengers since 2020 (14).
Poll
