By soumyaranjanb447 
In the opening match, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 wickets, kicking off their Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) campaign. The best players for RCB were Philip Salt (56 off 31), Virat Kohli (59* off 36), and Krunal Pandya (3/29).
In Short
- Kolkata Knight Riders scored 174/8 after batting first
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru chased down 175 in 16.2 overs
- Philip Salt and Virat Kohli scored half centuries for RCB
On Saturday, March 22 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 7 wickets to start their Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) campaign on a winning note. Ajinkya Rahane, the captain, led from the front with an incredible half-century (56 off 31) as KKR posted 174/7 in their allocated 20 overs after being put in to bat first.
Virat Kohli (59* off 36) and Philip Salt (56 off 31) spearheaded the RCB’s batting attack as they chased down the target in 16.2 overs. They were able to break their four-game losing streak against KKR as a result. When Philip Salt drove Vaibhav Arora for a boundary through the covers, the RCB chase got off to a great start. As the pair scored 12 runs in the first over, Kohli also found his rhythm by hitting a boundary off the mark with his signature flick shot.
In his second over, Salt hit Arora for two fours and a six, pushing the accelerator even harder. Captain Rahane introduced Varun Chakravarthy, his primary strike bowler, when he saw that the game was getting out of control. Salt was determined to keep going, though, and he showed complete contempt for even KKR’s mystery spinner, clobbering him for four straight boundaries, including a sixer.
Thanks to his chaos, RCB scored their second-highest powerplay total ever, reaching the 50-run milestone in just 22 balls and finishing at 80/0 in six overs. Salt achieved the necessary run rate under seven and reached his half-century off 25 balls. When Spencer Johnson caught a leading edge from Salt’s bat with Varun Chakrvarthy’s golden arm at short third man, KKR finally made their first breakthrough.
Following his dismissal, Kohli made sure that the pressure wasn’t let off the KKR bowlers as he also brought up his half-century off 30 balls. He was well-supported by Rajat Patidar (34 off 16) and the duo got involved in a quick-fire 44-run stand off 23 balls which brought RCB to the verge of a win. At the end, Liam Livingstone (15* off 5) finished the game for RCB helping them earn crucial two points right at the start of the season.
Earlier in the day, RCB captain Rajat Patidar’s decision to bowl first was vindicated by Josh Hazlewood, who dismissed Quinton de Kock in the first over itself. The KKR opener couldn’t make the most of the reprieve given by Suyash Sharma who dropped him on the third ball. After the early dismissal, captain Ajinkya Rahane walked in to bat to join Sunil Narine at the crease.
Krunal Pandya derails KKR’s innings
Rahane chose to take on Rasikh Salam Dar, hitting him for a boundary and two consecutive sixes after the two batted cautiously for a few overs. On the other end, Narine opened his innings with a maximum against Krunal Pandya over long-on after scoring just five runs off his first eleven balls.
After that, Rahane and Narine combined for 103 runs off of 55 balls to crush the RCB camp, and it was all bloodshed at the Eden Gardens. Rahane smashed Suyash Sharma for a maximum over deep mid-wicket in his KKR captaincy debut, reaching his half-century off just 25 deliveries.
KKR was aiming for a massive score of more than 200 with Rahane and Narine (44 off 26) in the middle, but they lost the latter due to the current pace of play and were on 107/2 in ten overs. For the fourth time in his IPL career, captain Rahane was defeated by Krunal Pandya (3/29) and surrendered to a deep square leg.
After 15 overs, Kolkata was at 145/5 after the left-arm spinner destroyed Venkatesh Iyer’s (6 off 7) stumps in the 13th over and took the crucial wicket of Rinku Singh (12 off 10) in his final over, further outscoring the KKR hitters.
As stumps continued to fall for Kolkata, Suyash Sharma also made amends at the other end after being hit for 41 runs in 3 overs and sending Andre Russell (4 off 3) back into the pavilion. With their four wickets, the spin twins Pandya and Suyash totally destroyed KKR’s innings, forcing them to settle for a below-average total of 174/8 in their 20 overs.
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