Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

Date: 22/03/23

Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

The IPL 2025 witnessed yet another electrifying clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Cricket fans were treated to a nail-biting encounter that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Josh Hazelwood delivered the first ball of the season played by Quinton de Kock who scored just 5 runs in 4 balls before getting caught out by Jitesh Sharma, they started slow but the match had its twist and turns over the whole period. Stay tuned to where we describe what today’s match was all about.

First Innings Overview: KKR to bat and RCB to bowl

KKR lost de Kock in the 5th ball of the innings, but the duo of Ajinkya Rahene and Sunil Narine did not stop trying their best to boost the powerplay and take as many runs as possible. They did have some luck as the duo Rahene and Narine made their 100-run partnership at the 5th ball of the 10th over but just after achieving this milestone Narine was caught out by Jitesh Sharma, and the balls were delivered by Rasikh Salam.

This does not stop here, Ajikya Rahane our captain too was caught out by Rasik Salam and the bowler was Kunal Pandaya. Venkatesh Iyer and Angkrish Raghuvanshi took their place. Rahane’s total score was 56 runs in 31 balls, he scored four 6 and six 4 in his turn.

By the end of 11th over their total score was 110 runs with the loss of 3 wickets. The twist doesn’t stop here, Raghuvanshi just scored 1 run before getting out, and Venkatesh Iyer with only 6 runs in 7 balls. By the end of the 15th over their score was 145 runs with the loss of 5 wickets. The target set by KKR was 174 runs.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru gave a very tough game to Kolkata Knight Riders, their bowlers were so in form that fans were very excited and hope they maintain the same consistency overall season. Josh Hazlewood took 2 wickets in 4 balls giving only 22 runs to KKR while Krunal Pandya took 3 wickets in 4 overs. Other bowlers took 1 wicket each giving 25, 35, 47, and 14 runs respectively.

Second Innings Overview: RCB to bat and KKR to bowl

The opening duo is none other than our favorite popularly known as King Kohli and Philip Salt, where Salt is on strike. Arora opens the bowling attack from Kolkata Knight Riders. Fan’s excitement proved worthy as Inning started with a four from Salt’s bat. They played slow for the first 2 overs but soon got momentum from the 3rd over. Tension was building among Kolkata Knight Riders and their fans as by the end of the powerplay, the total score of RCB was 80 runs with the loss of 0 wickets. The runs scored by our Kohli were 29 and 49 runs were scored by Phil Salt.

In just 6.5 overs Philip Salt has completed his half-century i.e. 50 runs in the RCB’s Debut Match. As the match commences further KKR gets its first breakthrough when Salt is caught out by Spencer Johnson, the bowler was Varun Chakravarthy. He scored 56 runs in 31 balls. By the end of 10th over Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli managed to score 104 runs with the loss of 1 wicket.

At this moment KKR was stressed and they needed to build some strategies that could turn the match in their favour. Virat Kohli becomes the third batsman to score 1000+ runs against KKR after Rhit Sharma and David Warner. KKR got its second wicket from Sunil Narine when Padikkal was caught out by Ramandeep Singh at 11.4 over. At 12.5 overs Kohli Completes his half-century with a four. By the end of the 15th over Rajat Patidar continued the attack and maintained the team score of 157 runs with the loss of 2 wickets. RCB lost its Captain’s Wicket to Vaibhav Arora caught out by Rinku Singh. Liam Livingstone replaced him in the crease.

In the 17th Over Spenser Johnson Bowled to Livingstone but he had different plans and hit a 6, then a 4 to finish the match and register a win for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Fans are celebrating their win and are super excited as their favorite team won the first match of IPL Season 2025. It is a great moment to celebrate for RCB.

Krunal Pandya became Man of the Match as in his bowling he only gave 29 runs in 4 overs taking 3 wickets with an economy of 7.2.

Conclusion:

The IPL 2025 season began with a spectacular action between KKR and RCB at their traditional home ground of Eden Gardens. RCB beat KKR by taking down the opposing team’s target of 175 runs in just 16 overs with seven wickets. Virat Kohli scored 59 runs without getting out while Phil Salt hit 56 to lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s successful pursuit. Krunal Pandya took the Player of the Match award because of his excellent bowling. The Eden Gardens ground helps batters score well for teams with a typical result of 190 runs. Royal Challengers Bengaluru delivered top-level results during batting and bowling activities against their opponents.

Ajinkya Rahane and Sunil Narine put up a promising partnership for Kolkata Knight Riders but it failed to protect their score. RCB takes a strong lead in their season start through their dominant win while KKR needs to recover from this loss to rebound in their next game. NKR supporters expect the team will play strongly in their next contest and make progress by improving their batting line.  The IPL 2025 season kicks off with impressive excitement and brings anticipation for all remaining games.