IPL 2025, KKR vs RCB: Bangalore beat Kolkata by 7 wickets
RCB won by a landslide in the opening match, KKR lost by 7 wickets: The 18th season of the IPL witnessed the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, begin their season with a loss in the inaugural match. Ajinkya Rahane’s team was defeated by 7 wickets by new captain Rajat Patidar’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Eden Gardens. The infamous player wearing the number 18 jersey, Virat Kohli, began his 18th season on a happy note. The team prospered with Phil Salt’s explosive half-century (56 runs off 31 balls, 9 fours, 2 sixes) complemented by King Kohli, who shone with a 59* (36 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes). Chasing 175 runs for victory, RCB drew inspiration of confidence right from the beginning, achieving the target with 22 balls in hand. Phil Salt scored half-centuries off 25 balls and Virat Kohli scored half-centuries off 30 balls, followed by Rajat Patidar’s 34 runs off 16 balls (5 fours, 1 six) to give the team an easy win. Krunal Pandya won the Man of the Match award for RCB.
IPL 2025 first Match RCB VS KKR:
RCB’s new captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to field. Quinton de Kock got his life back in the first over when he was caught by a dropped ball, but could not capitalise on it. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane, however, gave KKR an explosive start by scoring a half-century off just 25 balls. On the other hand, Sunil Narine was dismissed for 44 off 26 balls. Rahane also returned for 56 off 31 balls. Krunal Pandya took three wickets in succession to control KKR’s 10+ run deficit. Only Angakris Raghuvanshi (30 off 22 balls) batted well in the middle order, but KKR could not score as expected. KKR could only manage 29 runs in the last 5 overs, failing to surpass the potential 200 as Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, and Andre Russell failed to score. Krunal Pandya took 3 wickets and Josh Hazlewood took 2 wickets.
Brief Scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 174/8 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane-56, Sunil Narine-44, Angakris Raghuvanshi-30, Rinku Singh-12, Krunal Pandya-3/29, Josh Hazlewood-2/22, Yash Dayal-1/25, Rasik Salam-1/35, Suyash Sharma-1/47). Royal Challengers Bangalore 177/3 in 16.2 overs (Virat Kohli-59, Phil Salt-56, Rajat Patidar-34, Liam Livingstone-15, Sunil Narine-1/27, Vaibhav Arora-1/42, Varun Chakravarthy-1/43).
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