Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Preview & Prediction | IPL 2025 | League Stage
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The 2025 Indian Premier League begins with a blockbuster as reigning champions KKR take on Virat Kohli and RCB, who have still never won the competition.
Date & time: Saturday Match 22nd 2025: USA PT – 7:00am / USA ET – 10:00am / UK – 2:00pm
Venue: Eden Gardens Kolkata, India
Weather: Cloudy with lights winds and a slight chance of rain disruption play whilst temperatures remain in the mid-twenties.
How to watch: USA – Willow TV / UK – Sky Sports & Sky Go / Australia – Foxtel & Kayo Sports
Kolkata Knight Riders Preview: Same core, new coaches
Eleven wins last season, including a qualifier and of course, the final saw Kolkata Knight Riders crowned IPL winners for a third year. But that hasn’t stopped KKR from avoiding major changes going into 2025. For starters, they lost the services of their mentor Gautam Gambhir, who left to take charge of India and took key coach Ryan ten Doeschate with him.
The mega auction then led to captain Shreyas Iyer’s departure, having been bought by Punjab Kings. KKR will now be led by Ajinkya Rahane but aside from also losing Mitchell Starc, plenty of the core squad that lifted the trophy last year are back. That includes Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Preview: Patidar era begins
Rajat Patidar takes the reigns as Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain with one goal in mind, ending 17 long years of hurt by winning the IPL for the first time in franchise history. Patidar was championed by previous skipper Faf du Plessis before he left the team, but he can always call upon former RCB and India captain Virat Kohli for advice if needed.
The likes of Patidar, Kohli, Krunal Pandya, Devdutt Padikkal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar make up an impressive domestic spine, whilst they are backed up by overseas stars such as the big-hitting duo of Australia’s Tim David and Liam Livingstone of England. Another English player, Phil Salt is expected to open with Kohli.
Kolkata Knight Riders Betting Analysis
A cornerstone piece of KKR’s recent success and a player who likely has a very long, fruitful international career ahead to him for India. Varun Chakravarthy, is no doubt going to pose a massive wicket-taking threat with his spin bowling. He took 21 wickets in last year’s IPL, the second highest number and it would be no surprise to see him start strongly here against RCB. Back Chakravarthy to record 2+ wickets via the ‘Bowler Milestones’ market.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Betting Analysis
It would be remiss for bettors not to turn their attention immediately towards Virat Kohli when it comes to finding a play worth making on RCB. He’s coming off the back of a fruitful ICC Champions Trophy which saw him accumulate 218 runs, albeit in a different format. But Kohli has always been an IPL superstar and last year saw him register his best season since 2016, racking up 741 runs at an average of 61.75. That included reaching the 50-run-mark on six occasions. Back Kohli to begin the 2025 campaign with a half-century at Eden Gardens.
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Expert Prediction
Whilst there are doubts surrounding Kolkata Knight Riders due to the loss of both Iyer and Gambhir, not to mention Starc, it would be foolish to underestimate the champions, who remain a very strong unit packed with both power and potency from a batting and bowling perspective. Home advantage is in their favour here, which suits the likes of Chakravarthy.
RCB can never be counted out with Kohli leading the charge both with the bat and in the field even if he no longer captains the side. But KKR’s squad looks more settled with all bases covered and multiple prove match winners in Indian conditions. Therefore, back Rahane’s KKR to defeat Patidar’s RCB.
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Top Tip: Kolkata Knight Riders to win
