With both the teams going with new captains for the 18th season here is a look at the teams and the chances of victory in their clash.
KKR's Andre Russell and RCB's Virat Kohli (Photo: X)
The much anticipated Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Eden Gardens is only hours away.
With both the teams going with new captains for the 18th season here is a look at the teams and the chances of victory in their clash.
Ajinkya Rahane is set to lead the defending champion side, as KKR parted ways with their title winning skipper Shreyas Iyer. In a similar fashion, RCB too has not retained du Plesis and have appointed Rajat Patidar as their new leader.
Despite letting go of Iyer, KKR has their core team intact. With big names including Rahane, Venkatesh, Rinku, Russel, Narine, Varun the team looks solid. On the other hand, RCB too had got a strong batting unit like always, in addition to good bowling strength. The Bengaluru-based team also has good all rounders like Livingstone, Pandya, Tim David and Romario Shepherd.
Likely playing XI
KKR -- Quinton de Kock, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
RCB -- Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma
Head-to-Head
Both the sides competed 35 times, since the inception of the tournament, where KKR clearly has an upper hand. Kolkata won 21 matches, while RCB emerged victorious in 14 games. Moreover, KKR won the two encounters they had with RCB last season.
Pitch
Pitch at the Eden Gardens usually supports batting. While it offers extra bounce initially, the ball tends to come on to the bat nicely thereafter. Batting second team would have an advantage with the dew factor that could make the job of the bowlers challenging.
Score above 190 is easily attainable on this track.
With that being said both teams would have a tough fight but the Rahane-led side would have a slight advantage.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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