Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru on the opening day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. After a successful campaign in 2024, KKR had to release several of their star players, including Shreyas Iyer and Mitchell Starc. In Iyer’s absence, Ajinkya Rahane was appointed as the new captain while KKR spent INR 23.75 crore to sign Venkatesh Iyer in the auction and appointed him as deputy.
RCB too have made some bold decisions. They have released Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj among many others and focused primarily on building a team from scratch. There were talks of star batter Virat Kohli once again taking over the baton but ultimately, it was Rajat Patidar, who was named the new captain. The team management meanwhile made some smart buys, including the likes of singing Phil Salt, Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar among others.
A hard-hitting contest is expected on the opening day of the IPL 2025 as both teams are filled with power-hitters. From KKR, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell can change the course of the game at any time, while Jitesh Sharma and Tim David are not far behind either. But how will the pitch behave? Let’s learn.
The surface at Eden Gardens will heavily favour the batter. Bowling first will be the ideal thing to do as rain can play a part. Even if it doesn’t, chasing will be easier if there’s due. A high-scoring encounter is expected and anything above 230 can be considered a safe target. The powerplay meanwhile will be extremely crucial to achieve that number.
Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Anrich Nortje, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson.
Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal, Liam Livingstone, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Devdutt Padikkal, Lungi Ngidi, Swastik Chikkara, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee.
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