Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) got their campaign in the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) off to a winning start, beating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 7 wickets on Saturday, March 22 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. After being put in to bat first, KKR posted 174/7 in their allotted 20 overs as captain Ajinkya Rahane led from the front with a brilliant half-century (56 off 31). In reply, RCB chased down the target in 16.2 overs as Philip Salt (56 off 31) and Virat Kohli (59* off 36) guided them home. As a result, RCB managed to end their four-consecutive losses streak against KKR.
RCB’s chase got off to a fine start as Philip Salt drove Vaibhav Arora for a boundary through covers. Kohli also got into the groove by getting off the mark with a boundary through his trademark flick shot as the duo scored 12 runs from the first over. Salt further pressed the accelerator as he smashed Arora for two fours and a six in his second over. Seeing the game getting out of hands, captain Rahane brought in his main strike bowler Varun Chakravarthy. However, Salt was in no mood to stop as he treated even KKR’s mystery spinner with utter disdain clobbering him for four consecutive boundaries including a sixer.
Courtesy of his mayhem, RCB reached the 50-run mark in just 22 balls and went on to score their second-highest powerplay score in history, finishing on 80/0 in six overs. Salt brought up his half-century off 25 balls and got the required run rate under seven. KKR finally managed to get their first breakthrough as the golden arm of Varun Chakrvarthy found a leading edge from Salt’s bat which was grabbed by Spencer Johnson at short third man. 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) as the duo got involved in a quick-fire 44-run stand off 23 balls which brought RCB on the verge of a win.
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. The duo batted cautiously for a couple of overs before Rahane decided to take on Rasikh Salam Dar whacking him for a boundary and consecutive sixes. At the other end, Narine, who had scored just 5 off his first 11 balls, got his innings going with a maximum against Krunal Pandya over long-on.
From there on, it was pure carnage at the Eden Gardens as Rahane and Narine forged a 103-run partnership off 55 balls to dampen the spirits in the RCB camp. Rahane shone on his captaincy debut for KKR bringing up his half-century off just 25 deliveries as he slog swept Suyash Sharma for a maximum over deep mid-wicket.
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With Rahane and Narine in the middle, KKR were aiming for a humongous score in excess of 200 but against the run of play they lost Narine (44 off 26) and were on 107/2 in ten overs.
Captain Rahane also fell prey to Krunal Pandya for the fourth time in his IPL career, holing out to deep square leg. The left-arm spinner continued to outfox KKR batters as he dismantled Venkatesh Iyer’s (6 off 7) stumps in the 13th over and further got the big wicket of Rinku Singh (12 off 10) in his last over as Kolkata were reduced to 145/5 after 15 overs.
At the other end, Suyash Sharma also made amends after being hit for 41 runs in 3 overs and sent Andre Russell (4 off 3) back into the pavilion as stumps continued to tumble for Kolkata. The spin twins of Pandya and Suyash completeley derailed KKR’s innings with their four wickets and they eventually had to settle for a below par score of 174/8 in their 20 overs.
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