Royal Challengers Bengaluru 177 for 3 (Kohli 59*, Salt 56, Patidar 34, Narine 1-27) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 174 for 8 (Rahane 56, Narine 44, Krunal 3-29, Hazlewood 2-22) by seven wickets
The first IPL after the mega auction brings with it much anticipation of new alliances and loyalties. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will be thrilled that all their acquisitions between the two seasons had an impact in their emphatic start to IPL 2025 against the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Josh Hazlewood used the spongy bounce to scuttle KKR’s powerplay and death overs with analysis of 4-0-22-1, Krunal Pandya ended the pleasant surprise of Ajinkya Rahane’s high-intent fifty for KKR in a spell of 4-0-29-3, Suyash Sharma salvaged an ordinary night with the massive wicket to Andre Russell, and Phil Salt killed the chase off with 56 off 31, identical score to Rahane’s. A fixture at RCB, Virat Kohli then sealed the game off with an unbeaten 59 off 36 with 22 balls to spare in the chase of 175.
Known for pushing convention, KKR played safe with their captaincy choice post the auction. Rahane will have to allay doubts practically every day in the IPL, but he got off to a good start as he and Sunil Narine combined for 98 runs in overs four to 10, but KKR were outplayed pretty much throughout the night outside those seven overs.
