KKR vs RCB Today's Match Expert Fantasy Tips & Player Stats, IPL 2025

1st T20 • Eden Gardens • Kolkata

Kolkata Knight Riders

174/8 (20)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

177/3 (16.2)

RCB won by 7 wickets

Info

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Date & Time

22 Mar, 07:30 PM IST

Venue

Eden Gardens, Kolkata

TV/Streaming

JioHotstar, Star Sports Network

Match

1st T20,

Indian T20 League 2025

Points Table

Schedule

Stats

Umpires

Abhijeet Bengeri (India), Vinod Seshan (India), Jayaraman Madanagopal (India, TV)

Referee

Prakash Bhatt (India)

Toss

Royal Challengers Bengaluru elected to bowl

Pitch Report

Looks a good pitch with a fair bit of grass on it. Not a whole lot as last night though. There should be good bounce on offer. A fine pitch for the batters and you could expect 200+ to be scored.

1st Innings

152Avg Runs

7Avg Wkts

133.04Avg SR

2nd Innings

140Avg Runs

6Avg Wkts

133.75Avg SR

Weather Update

Points Table

Head To Head (Last 10 Matches)

KKR

6- 4

RCB

Team Form (Recent 5 Matches, Latest First)

Kolkata Knight Riders

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Player of the Match Krunal Pandya

3/29

Lucky Winner Akshay Kamble

KKR

RCB

Info

Kolkata Knight Riders

174/8 (20)

Batters

Quinton de Kock

80.00

c Sharma b Hazlewood

Sunil Narine

169.23

c Sharma b Salam

Ajinkya Rahane

180.65

c Salam b Pandya

Venkatesh Iyer

85.71

b Pandya

Angkrish Raghuvanshi

136.36

c Sharma b Yash Dayal

Rinku Singh

120.00

b Pandya

Andre Russell

133.33

b Sharma

Ramandeep Singh

66.67

Not out

Harshit Rana

83.33

c Sharma b Hazlewood

Spencer Johnson

100.00

Not out

Extras

(B: 0, LB: 2, NB: 0, W: 4)

TOTAL

(20 Ov, RR: 8.7)

174/8

Did not Bat

Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora

Bowlers

EXT

Josh Hazlewood

5.50

Yash Dayal

8.33

Rasikh Dar

11.67

Krunal Pandya

7.25

Suyash Sharma

11.75

Liam Livingstone

7.00

Fall Of Wickets

SCORE

OVER

Quinton de Kock

c Sharma b Hazlewood

1-4

0.5

Sunil Narine

c Sharma b Salam

2-107

9.6

Ajinkya Rahane

c Salam b Pandya

3-109

10.3

Venkatesh Iyer

b Pandya

4-125

12.1

Rinku Singh

b Pandya

5-145

14.6

Andre Russell

b Sharma

6-150

15.4

Angkrish Raghuvanshi

c Sharma b Yash Dayal

7-168

18.5

Harshit Rana

c Sharma b Hazlewood

8-173

19.5

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

177/3 (16.2)

Batters

Phil Salt

180.65

c Johnson b Chakaravarthy

Virat Kohli

163.89

Not out

Devdutt Padikkal

100.00

c Singh b Narine

Rajat Patidar

212.50

c Singh b Arora

Liam Livingstone

300.00

Not out

Extras

(B: 0, LB: 2, NB: 0, W: 1)

TOTAL

(16.2 Ov, RR: 10.84)

177/3

Did not Bat

Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal

Bowlers

EXT

Vaibhav Arora

14.00

Spencer Johnson

2.2

13.29

Varun Chakaravarthy

10.75

Harshit Rana

10.67

Sunil Narine

6.75

Fall Of Wickets

SCORE

OVER

Phil Salt

c Johnson b Chakaravarthy

1-95

8.3

Devdutt Padikkal

c Singh b Narine

2-118

11.4

Rajat Patidar

c Singh b Arora

3-162

15.3

Match Info

Date & Time

22 Mar, 07:30 PM IST

Venue

Eden Gardens, Kolkata

TV/Streaming

JioHotstar, Star Sports Network

Match

1st T20,

Indian T20 League 2025

Points Table

Schedule

Stats

Umpires

Abhijeet Bengeri (India), Vinod Seshan (India), Jayaraman Madanagopal (India, TV)

Referee

Prakash Bhatt (India)

Toss

Royal Challengers Bengaluru elected to bowl

1 6 1 1 1 1

Over 14

Runs: 11

1 4 4 2 4 4

Over 15

Runs: 19

1 4 W 4 0 1

Over 16

Runs: 10

6 4

Over 17

Runs: 10

All Overs

Player of the Match Krunal Pandya

3/29

Lucky Winner Akshay Kamble

Commentary

That brings us to the end of our coverage for the opening match of IPL season 18. The perennial underachievers of IPL, RCB have started their campaign on a resounding note. They have thumped KKR in their home ground and this performance will give them a lot of confidence going forward in the competition. The IPL carnival will continue tomorrow with a double-header scheduled for Super Sunday. Sunrisers Hyderabad will square off against the Rajasthan Royals in the afternoon game followed the El Clasico of IPL, the Chennai Super Kings vs the Mumbai Indians. Do join us at 2:30 PM sharp for our live coverage with the first match starting at 3;30 PM. We have a New Zealand-Pakistan game lined up tomorrow as well. Keep following Sportskeeda for all the latest sporting action but for now this is myself (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) signing off also on behalf of my fellow commentator and good mate Rajarshi Das.

Virat Kohli smashed back-to-back sixes of Spencer Johnson which oozed class and confidence. As we bring curtains down on our coverage, switch below to relieve those two shots.

Virat Kohli smashes back-to-back sixes off Spencer Johnson in KKR vs RCB IPL 2025 opener [Watch]

Krunal Pandya is the Player of the Match, here is what he had to say: Nothing, I just realised when you play in front of such a huge crowd, you have to narrow down your focus. Glad I could deliver today. I mean you have to go with the play with how skill sets are improving. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to pace. Change of pace bowling works well for me. I mean now Jitesh knows I can do anything, bowl a bumper and a wide yorker. When you have something in your armoury, why not use that. When I got into the side, I realised how much of madness is associated with RCB. It feels good when crowd is backing you. It's been great after joining the squad.

Rajat Patidar (RCB captain): Ofcourse there was pressure but I think it was a good day for me. If we keep winning like this, it will be good for me. It was pretty clear for me. We wanted Russell's wicket. Suyash was our main wicket taking bowler and I didn't mind him conceding runs. All credit goes to Krunal and Suyash. They were more than 130 in 13 overs. It was really amazing to see their mindset of taking wickets. It feels great when you have a player like Virat Kohli around you. It's a great opportunity for me to learn from him. That was predetermined shot, the ball nipped a bit and it went over point instead of covers.

Josh Hazlewood gets the award for bowling the most dot deliveries (16).

Philip Salt gets the award for hitting most fours in the match.

Ajinkya Rahane gets the award for hitting most sixes in the match.

Sunil Narine gets the award for achieving the most fantasy points.

Rajat Patidar gets the award for scoring at the highest strike rate.

Time for the post-match presentation ceremony with Harsha Bhogle.

Phil Salt, Royal Challengers Bengaluru: The partnership (with Kohli was what's most satisfying). We haven't batted together too often, to go out there and put a partnership like that was a standout. It's a ground I know, I know these guys too. Had a clear and simple plan going into the game. Needed to go a bit longer, get a red ink, not today. Batting second here makes a difference, probably one of those wickets where you have to stand and hit through the line, can't stand there and feel it. That's what we spoke about in the batting group, really pleased with the outcome. Had a great time here last year, good to win the trophy. But there's no friends out there.

Ajinkya Rahane, Kolkata Knight Riders captain: We were going really well till the 13th over. Two-three wickets there changed the momentum. Still early days, we need to learn from our mistakes. We have the batting power who can go out and express themselves. They tried to do so, didn't work out. Need to assess it. When Venkatesh (Iyer) and I were batting, we thought 210 was achievable. 2-3 wickets in the middle overs changed the momentum. Little bit of dew second innings, but the powerplay was very good for them. 170-180 was under par, early wickets in the powerplay helps, didn't work for us. We don't want to think too much, try to be better as a unit and a team.

10:55 PM IST: Royal Challengers Bengaluru won by 7 wickets (with 22 deliveries to spare)

Virat Kohli 59*(36) | Krunal Pandya 3/29(4)

Ajinkya Rahane 56(31) | Sunil Narine 1/27(4)

It turned out to be a thoroughly clinical run chase from Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as they romped home by wickets and with deliveries to spare to win their opening game against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The score of 174 looked an under par one at the halfway stage and it certainly turned out in that fashion once Phil Salt and Virat Kohli provided a blistering start to RCB.

12 runs came off Vaibhav Arora’s opening over which laid the foundation and there was no looking back from there on. Phil Salt who had a wonderful previous season with KKR knew the tricks of the Knight Riders bowlers and took them to the cleaners right from the outset. Boundaries kept flowing from his blade and none of the bowlers could find an answer in front of his onslaught. It was sheer dominance from the power-packed opener and Virat also joined in the fun.

He smashed back-to-back sixes of Spencer Johnson and literally batted KKR out of the game after scoring 80 runs in the powerplay. It was Varun Chakravarthy who provided the breakthrough in the 9th over but by then, the damage was already done. Devdutt Padikkal came in as the impact sub and the southpaw struck an exceptional shot but was dismissed soon after by Sunil Narine.

Captain Rajat Patidar played a brilliant cameo of 34 off 16 deliveries which included some stunning shots. Eventually after his departure, it was Liam Livingstone who blazed to a 5 ball 15 to take their side over the finish line. Kohli on the other hand, remained unbeaten on 59 off 36 deliveries. Stay tuned, we will be back with the post-match presentation pretty soon.

10:46 PM IST: What an emphatic win for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. They didn't had to break a sweat to chase down the target of 175 and they have achieved the target with 22 deliveries to spare. It was Phil Salt and Virat Kohli who provided the blistering start and the there was no way back from there on for the KKR bowlers. This win will give a lot of confidence to RCB while KKR have to reflect on a few things to get their campaign back on track.

16.2 Spencer Johnson to Liam Livingstone, AND THAT IS THAT! The Royal Challengers Bengaluru complete an absolute thumping of the defending champions at their den, the Eden Gardens! To think they did so with so much time to spare, it's scary to think about the heights this batting line-up is capable of reaching going further into the tournament. Coming to the delivery, Johnson went fuller, landing it around off stump. Livingstone was well across his stumps, ready for a hefty slog. He went through with it, didn't quite meet it right, but found the gap to the right of the man at mid-on.

16.1 Spencer Johnson to Liam Livingstone, helped... OVER THE RCB DUGOUT AT DEEP FINE! Banged in short around leg stump, but Livingstone was ready for it. Having moved well across his stumps, he went through with a hook, and evidently met it well enough. The ball traveled flat over the dugout! Two more needed...

Spencer Johnson [2-0-21-0] is back into the attack.

That's the end of the 16th over and RCB just 8 runs away from the victory target. This has been a convincing run chase for RCB and the early domination will give them confidence going forward in the competition.

overs

167 /3 score