The opening match of the IPL 2025 will be played between the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders and three-time finalists, Royal Challengers Bangalore. Notably, 17 years ago, in the first season of the tournament, these teams opened the tournament in Bangalore. In the 18th season, once again these teams are opening the tournament but this time in Kolkata. Kolkata has got the opening game of the season as they are IPL 2024 winners.
KKR vs RCB: Predicted Playing XI
This is the best possible playing XI for the first match of the tournament. The playing XI is expected to be the same unless the pitch demands other players to be included. However, there is an impact player rule which makes one of these players be replaced during the game.
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | Kolkata Knight Riders |
|---|---|
| Phil Salt (WK) | Quinton De Kock (WK) |
| Virat Kohli | Sunil Narine |
| Rajat Patidar (C) | Angkrish Raghuvanshi |
| Liam Livingstone | Ajinkya Rahane (C) |
| Jitesh Sharma | Venkatesh Iyer |
| Krunal Pandya | Rinku Singh |
| Tim David | Andre Russell |
| Rasik Salam | Ramandeep Singh |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | Harshit Rana |
| Yash Dayal | Vaibhav Arora |
| Josh Hazlewood | Varun Chakravarthy |
KKR vs RCB Squad
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (c), Swastik Chikara, Tim David, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jacob Bethell, Manoj Bhandage, Liam Livingstone, Mohit Rathee, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Abhinandan Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lungi Ngidi, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Luvnith Sisodia (wk), Venkatesh Iyer (vc), Moeen Ali, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson, Mayank Markande, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Varun Chakravarthy.
KKR vs RCB: Injury Updates
Kolkata Knight Riders: The team is free of injuries and all their players are available to play.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: The team is free of injuries and all their players are available to play.
