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The first match of the IPL 2025 will be played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on March 22. Both teams will look to start their campaign with a win.
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. The clash is also a nostalgic throwback to the first IPL season where both teams met for the first time.
From possible playing XIs to head-to-head record, here is everything you need to know about the KKR vs RCB match in IPL 2025.
Match Details
Match: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Tournament: IPL 2025, Match No. 1
Date: 21 March 2025
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Streaming Details
Cricket fans from India can watch the KKR vs RCB match LIVE on Star Sports TV Channels on Television. They can also stream the match LIVE on JioHotstar for free.
Pitch & Weather Report
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.
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.
KKR vs RCB: 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.
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.
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Played: 34
KKR: 20
RCB: 14
At Eden Gardens
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Played: 12
KKR: 8
RCB: 4
Team News
Kolkata Knight Riders
The defending champions will love to carry forward that momentum this season too, but this time they will need to find an able partner for Narine as Salt will sit in the rival dugout when they open the campaign against RCB at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.
South African Quinton de Kock and Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz are two likely candidates to fill that void, with the possibility of the former being the first choice. But with De Kock not among games and Gurbaz having failed to score big in the Champions Trophy, the onus will be more on Narine.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
To make KKR’s loss look like RCB’s gain, Salt will need to get his mojo back after some ordinary knocks in international cricket in recent times. He will get enough support from his new opening partner, Virat Kohli, who too would miss his long-time associate Faf du Plessis.
The Indian batter has always operated as RCB’s batting fulcrum with Kohli-du Plessis and Kohli-de Villiers pairs making significant contributions in their campaigns. Kohli and du Plessis scored more runs than any other opening duo in the past two IPL seasons and thus Salt will have big shoes to fill.
RCB will want Kohli to continue what he has been doing for so many years and Salt will have to play a good supporting role.
Possible XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders: 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
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
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.
Fantasy Team Prediction
Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Rajat Patidar (vc), Sunil Narine (c), Andre Russell, Liam Livingstone, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana.