Key Points
RCB's Patidar makes captaincy debut, chooses bowling with three seamers and two spinners
Before the toss happened, the IPL 2025 season had the official opening ceremony hosted by actor-producer Shah Rukh Khan, who is also KKR’s co-owner. The ceremony featured performances by singer Shreya Ghoshal, actor Disha Patani, and singer-rapper Karan Aulja.
After winning the toss, Rajat Patidar, captaining RCB for the first time in the IPL, mentioned that he is playing with three seamers and two spinners. Interestingly, RCB did not pick veteran India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the tournament opener. “The pitch looks hard. Amazing to lead RCB and great opportunity to learn from the great players. We have done proper preparations for the last 10-15 days. I am confused with this impact player rule,” he said.
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane also expressed his intention to field first and noted that he is playing three fast bowlers and two spinners. “It's an honour to lead this team. Our preparation has been good, the core group has been the same. Looking forward to bat well first and defend later on. It is all about giving the players the freedom and allowing them to play as a unit,” he stated.
Playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Quinton de Kock (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Impact Substitutes: Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia
Royal Challengers Bengaluru:
Virat Kohli, Philip Salt (wk), Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal
Impact Substitutes: Devdutt Padikkal, Abhinandan Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh
