IPL 2025: Virat Kohli, Phil Salt hearth up RCB’s title hunt in fashion, decimate KKR
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bought their marketing campaign within the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) off to a successful begin, beating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 7 wickets on Saturday, March 22 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. After being put in to bat first, KKR posted 174/7 of their allotted 20 overs as captain Ajinkya Rahane led from the entrance with an excellent half-century (56 off 31).
In reply, RCB chased down the goal in 16.2 overs as Philip Salt (56 off 31) and Virat Kohli (59* off 36) led the cost with the bat. In consequence, they managed to finish their four-consecutive loss streak towards KKR. RCB’s chase bought off to a nice begin as Philip Salt drove Vaibhav Arora for a boundary by covers. Kohli additionally bought into the groove by getting off the mark with a boundary by his trademark flick shot because the duo scored 12 runs within the opening over.
Salt additional pressed the accelerator as he smashed Arora for 2 fours and a six in his second over. Seeing the sport getting out of hand, captain Rahane introduced in his predominant strike bowler Varun Chakravarthy. Nevertheless, Salt was in no temper to cease as he handled even KKR’s thriller spinner with utter disdain, clobbering him for 4 consecutive boundaries, together with a sixer.
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Courtesy of his mayhem, RCB reached the 50-run mark in simply 22 balls and went on to attain their second-highest powerplay rating in historical past, ending on 80/0 in six overs. Salt introduced up his half-century off 25 balls and bought the required run fee below seven. KKR lastly managed to get their first breakthrough because the golden arm of Varun Chakrvarthy discovered a vanguard from Salt’s bat, which was grabbed by Spencer Johnson at brief third man.
Following his dismissal, Kohli made positive that the strain wasn’t let off the KKR bowlers as he additionally introduced up his half-century off 30 balls. He was well-supported by Rajat Patidar (34 off 16) and the duo bought concerned in a quick-fire 44-run stand off 23 balls which introduced RCB to the verge of a win. On the finish, Liam Livingstone (15* off 5) completed the sport for RCB serving to them earn essential two factors proper at first of the season.
Earlier within the day, RCB captain Rajat Patidar’s determination to bowl first was vindicated by Josh Hazlewood, who dismissed Quinton de Kock within the first over itself. The KKR opener couldn’t take advantage of the reprieve given by Suyash Sharma who dropped him on the third ball. After the early dismissal, captain Ajinkya Rahane walked in to bat to affix Sunil Narine on the crease.
Krunal Pandya derails KKR’s innings
The duo batted cautiously for a few overs earlier than Rahane determined to tackle Rasikh Salam Dar whacking him for a boundary and consecutive sixes. On the different finish, Narine, who had scored simply 5 off his first 11 balls, bought his innings going with a most towards Krunal Pandya over long-on. From there on, it was pure carnage on the Eden Gardens as Rahane and Narine cast a 103-run partnership off 55 balls to dampen the spirits within the RCB camp. Rahane shone on his captaincy debut for KKR citing his half-century off simply 25 deliveries as he slog swept Suyash Sharma for a most over deep mid-wicket.
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With Rahane and Narine within the center, KKR have been aiming for a humongous rating in extra of 200 however towards the run of play they misplaced Narine (44 off 26) and have been on 107/2 in ten overs. Captain Rahane additionally fell prey to Krunal Pandya for the fourth time in his IPL profession, holing out to deep sq. leg. The left-arm spinner continued to outfox KKR batters as he dismantled Venkatesh Iyer’s (6 off 7) stumps within the 13th over and additional bought the large wicket of Rinku Singh (12 off 10) in his final over as Kolkata have been decreased to 145/5 after 15 overs.
On the different finish, Suyash Sharma additionally made amends after being hit for 41 runs in 3 overs and despatched Andre Russell (4 off 3) again into the pavilion as stumps continued to tumble for Kolkata. The spin twins of Pandya and Suyash fully derailed KKR’s innings with their 4 wickets and so they finally needed to accept a below-par rating of 174/8 of their 20 overs.
