The stage is set for the first game of IPL 2025 to be played between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). The Ajinkya Rahane-led side will be hosting this encounter on March 22 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
KKR are the defending champions and though they will be having a new leader in Ajinkya Rahane still have the same core that won them the title last year. The Knight Riders only lost three games last season and will want to start their title defence in style going into the tournament.
Speaking of new leaders, the RCB team announced Rajat Patidar as their new skipper for the season and will once again keep their hopes of winning the trophy alive. RCB might have had a great comeback last season where they managed to edge through to the playoffs winning six in a row but their chances of winning the title were thwarted in the eliminator against Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Pitch Report
The Eden Gardens might give some assistance to the bowlers with some extra bounce, but it has mostly been a batting-friendly wicket where most of the matches have been won by the team bowling first. The due factor does play a huge role in this venue where the bowlers have trouble gripping the ball and the surface does not really change much.
Weather report
The weather report for Kolkata does not look promising. As per Saturday’s forecast, there are 75% chance of rain, which may spoil the mood of the fans. All would pray that the weather remains good, and the tournament could start without any hitch. Both the players and the fans would be keen that the game proceeds as scheduled, and not that the tournament starts with a cancelled game.
Squads
KKR: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer (vc), Moeen Ali, Vaibhav Arora, Quinton de Kock, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson, Mayank Markande, Sunil Narine, Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Chetan Sakariya, Rinku Singh, Luvnith Sisodia, Varun Chakravarthy.
RCB: Rajat Patidar (c), Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Bethell, Manoj Bhandage, Swastik Chikara, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Liam Livingstone, Mohit Rathee, Lungi Ngidi, Devdutt Padikkal, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Salam, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal.
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