Phil Salt and Virat Kohli smashed 80 in the PowerPlay © Sportzpics Royal Challengers Bengaluru sent a statement on the opening night of IPL 2025 with a resounding win over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders. RCB’s bowlers led their team’s comeback in the second half of KKR’s innings by managing to restrict the hosts to 174 for 8 on a placid batting surface. The chase appeared to be so effortless as RCB’s new opening pair of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli registered explosive half-centuries to send the champions to a crushing defeat. Where was the match won? It was won in the PowerPlay. Both teams put up very good scores in the PowerPlay but the difference is still a significant 20 runs. To narrow it down further, KKR would rue the start they made with their openers struggling to put the ball away in the first three overs where they made only 9 runs. While they managed to recover to finish with 60 in the PowerPlay, RCB raced to 80 for 0 after six overs. Kolkata Knight Riders Powerplay – A tale of two halves Phase score: 60/1 [RR: 10, 4s/6s: 8/4] It was quite astonishing to watch how the PowerPlay panned out for KKR. Josh Hazlewood extracted a lot of movement and bounce on this surface to make life difficult for Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock before removing the South African. After three overs, KKR were 9 for 1 with Narine in particular struggling to get going, batting on 5 off 11. However, Ajinkya Rahane came out all guns blazing and flipped the switch that saw him smash Rasikh Salam for a couple of sixes and a four in the fourth over of the innings. Narine’s release shot came against Krunal Pandya in the following over after which Rahane continued to go on a boundary-hitting spree that saw KKR smash 41 runs in the second half of the PowerPlay. Middle overs – Teams trade blows Phase score: 85/4 [RR: 9.44, 4s/6s: 8/3] If the PowerPlay was all about Rahane, the middle overs saw Narine redeem himself after that poor start. RCB were forced to hold back Krunal with Narine out in the middle but the opener took on Suyash Sharma over extra-cover for a huge six before hitting one down the ground. Rahane also targetted the legspinner for a six over mid-wicket to bring up the first 50 of IPL 2025. Salam wasn’t spared either by Narine who raced to 44 of 25 before the pacer finally managed to break the dangerous partnership. At the halfway point, KKR were 107 for 2 and well-positioned to post 220. However, this is where RCB’s comeback began as Krunal returned to the attack to make a huge impact. First, he got rid of Rahane before dismissing Venkatesh Iyer in his next over. In his final over, he bowled another quicker delivery to breach Rinku Singh’s defence that put the onus on Andre Russell and young Angkrish Raghuvanshi to provide the finishing touches. Death overs – RCB’s dream finish Phase score: 29/3 [RR: 5.8, 4s/6s: 2/1] Suyash, who had a tough night until then, came back for his final over as RCB continued to bowl spin after Krunal’s success. The ploy worked as Suyash bowled a well-disguised googly to rattle Russell’s stumps. That was a telling blow for the home side as RCB closed out the innings in excellent fashion. Hazlewood was at the forefront of that comeback as he conceded just 15 runs in his final two overs. Hazlewood denied Ramandeep Singh the strike throughout the final over to frustrate KKR as they managed to score only 29 runs in the slog overs. PowerPlay – Salt reigns supreme at Eden….in RED Phase score: 80/0 [RR: 13.33, 4s/6s: 10/4] The Eden crowd by now are used to watching Salt going bonkers. He did forge a thrilling opening partnership with Narine in KKR’s title winning campaign. However, he was doing the same this time from the opposite camp. He started off the chase with a cover drive that went for a boundary and then sent Vaibhav Arora out of the attack with an eventful over that saw him fetch two fours and a six. If that wasn’t enough, he stunned the home crowd with a stunning assault to welcome Varun Chakaravarthy that saw him go 4,6,4,4. Kohli wasn’t left far too behind as he hit identical sixes off Spencer Johnson. Eventually, RCB knocked off 80 runs in the PowerPlay to pretty much put the contest to bed. Middle overs – Patidar joins the party Phase score: 77/2 [RR: 8.55, 4s/6s: 8/2] Salt brought up his 50 immediately after the first six overs, and KKR’s spinners now managed to slowly pull back the run rate. That was still not going to be enough though as they needed wickets. Chakaravarthy forced Salt to mistime one to get caught, much to KKR’s relief and Devdutt Padikkal found the fielder stationed at deep mid-wicket. Kohli continued to dominate though as he smashed Chakaravarthy over long-on for another six and eventually reached his fifty off just 30 deliveries. For the major part of this phase, RCB’s run rate hovered just above six but skipper Rajat Patidar gave it a massive fillip with an eye-catching cameo. After tonking Narine over long-on, Patidar took Harshit Rana to the cleaners with four boundaries in a single over that brought down the equation to just 18 off 30 balls. Death overs – A resounding win with 22 balls to spare Phase score: 20/1 in 1.2 overs [RR: 15.03, 4s/6s: 3/1] After adding another boundary in his quest to finish the game quickly, Patidar then found a fielder at the deep to depart for a 16-ball 34. He had caused enough damage though as KKR literally had no hope of a comeback. Kohli had taken a backseat by this time as Liam Livingstone walked out with intent to finish the game in a canter. Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders174/8 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 56, Sunil Narine 44; Krunal Pandya 3/29) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 177/3 in 16.2 overs (Virat Kohli 59*, Phil Salt 56; Sunil Narine 1/27) by 7 wickets What next for the teams? With this statement victory, RCB will now be brimming with confidence as they travel to Chennai for another away game. It’s a venue where they haven’t had a lot of success but with confidence on their side especially with their spinners helping them stage a comeback here, an interesting contest awaits in Chepauk. KKR will travel to Guwahati next to take on Rajasthan Royals who are in action tomorrow in Hyderabad.
