The 18th season of the Indian Premier League will kick off when defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders begin their title defense against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday.
After the IPL 2025 mega auction, both teams will be led by different captains. KKR will be led by experienced Ajinkya Rahane whereas RCB would see a new sunrise as Rajat Patidar would take the leadership onus.
KKR has a solid batting unit and spin attack but they lack experience in the fast bowling line-up. Anrich Nortje is going to hold the key whereas the season will also provide opportunity to pacers like Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana.
KKR has a potent batting line-up in Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Quinton de Kock, and Rovman Powell and furthermore they have quality all-rounders like Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.
On the other hand, Rajat Patidar would look to lead with aplomb. RCB is yet to go all the way in the IPL and they would look to come up with a collective effort. Once again, they have assembled a potent batting unit and they have acquired a decent fast bowling attack. But their spin department could be their Achilles Heel as they only have the services of Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma.
Head to Head: Matches: 34, Won by KKR: 20, Won by RCB: 14.
KKR squad for IPL 2025:
Batters: Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia.
Wicketkeepers: Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
All-rounders: Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Moeen Ali.
Fast bowlers: Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Chetan Sakariya.
Spinners: Mayank Markande, Varun Chakaravarthy.
KKR Probable Playing XI:
Quinton de Kock, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora.
RCB squad for IPL 2025:
Batters: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara.
Wicketkeepers: Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma.
All-rounders: Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell.
Fast bowlers: Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh.
Spinners: Suyash Sharma, Mohit Rathee.
RCB predicted playing XI:
Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Liam Livingstone, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma.
