In the first match of IPL 2025, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 7 wickets to start the tournament on a great note.
Superb batting from Virat Kohli (59 runs) and Phil Salt (56 runs) gave RCB an easy win.
Kolkata Knight Riders innings – Rahane and Narine shine but fail to score big
KKR got off to a bad start when Quinton de Kock was dismissed early.
However, Sunil Narine and Ajinkya Rahane batted aggressively, but the middle order crumbled.
In the end, even Rinku Singh and Andre Russell could not contribute much, allowing KKR to score only 174/8. RCB bowlers stopped KKR batsmen with yorkers and spin.
Top Scorer – Kolkata Knight Riders:
- Ajinkya Rahane – 56 (31 balls, 6 fours, 4 sixes)
- Sunil Narayan – 44 (26 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes)
- Ankrish Raghuvanshi – 30 (22 balls, 2 fours, 1 six)
- Rinku Singh – 12 (10 balls, 1 four)
- Venkatesh Iyer – 6 (7 balls, 1 four)
Top Bowler – Royal Challengers Bangalore:
- Krunal Pandya – 4 overs, 29 runs, 3 wickets
- Josh Hazlewood – 4 overs, 22 runs, 2 wickets
- Yash Dayal – 3 overs, 25 runs, 1 wicket
- Rasikh Salam – 3 overs, 35 runs, 1 wicket
- Sayush Sharma – 4 overs, 47 runs, 1 wicket
Royal Challengers Bangalore innings – KKR collapsed in the storm of Kohli and Salt
RCB team, which came to chase the target, had a great start.
Phil Salt and Virat Kohli’s explosive batting gave RCB an early lead. However, Salt and Padikkal were out, but captain Rajat Patidar played a fast innings.
In the end, Liam Livingstone played a quick shot and led the team to victory in 16.2 overs.
Top Scorer – Royal Challengers Bangalore:
- Virat Kohli – 59 (36 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes)
- Phil Salt – 56 (31 balls, 9 fours, 2 sixes)
- Rajat Patidar – 34 (16 balls, 5 fours, 1 six)
- Liam Livingstone – 15 (5 balls, 2 fours, 1 six)
- Devdutt Padikkal – 10 (10 balls, 1 four)
Top Bowler – Kolkata Knight Riders:
- Varun Chakravarthy – 4 overs, 43 runs, 1 wicket
- Sunil Narayan – 4 overs, 27 runs, 1 wicket
- Vaibhav Arora – 3 overs, 42 runs, 1 wicket
- Spencer Johnson – 2.2 overs, 31 runs, 0 wickets
- Harshit Rana – 3 overs, 32 runs, 0 wickets
Decisive moment of the match
Virat Kohli and Phil Salt’s opening partnership knocked KKR out of the match.
After this, Rajat Patidar and Liam Livingstone batted explosively to give the team an easy win.
RCB made a great start to IPL 2025 on the basis of excellent batting and bowling.
