Defending champions Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the opening match of IPL 2025 on Saturday at the Eden Gardens. However, the weather could play a spoilsport, with more than 80 per cent chance of rain in Kolkata on matchday. Both KKR and RCB will be led by new captains this season, with Ajinkya Rahane in charge of KKR, while RCB have given Rajat Patidar his first crack of captaincy in the IPL. Ahead of the much-awaited fixture, a viral video featuring KKR captain Rahane has gone viral on social media.
The video claimed that Rahane was running late for practice, with the KKR team bus seemed to be leaving for the stadium without him. We couldn’t confirm the authenticity of the video.
In the video, Rahane can be seen running with a bat in his hands, hoping to enter the team bus before it leaves.
KKR team bus leaving without their captain Rahane pic.twitter.com/j9GjlqyKcl
— Pick-up Shot (@96ShreyasIyer) March 21, 2025
Ahead of the game at the Eden Gardens, the Indian Met Department (IMD) has issued an “orange alert” for the area. “Light to moderate rainfall, thunderstorms, lightning, and strong winds are expected” until Saturday, the report said.
In the days leading up to the season opener, Kolkata experienced brief periods of rain, which resulted in one KKR inter-squad practice match being cancelled after just one innings. Light rain fell in the city on Wednesday and Thursday, although both teams managed to conclude their practice sessions.
Speaking ahead of the new season, former KKR captain Sourav Ganguly said it is too early to decide who are contenders for the title as all teams look balanced.
“It is too early to say anything right now. The tournament is too long and competitive. All teams are balanced,” Ganguly told the media.
Kolkata Knight Riders squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Manish Pandey, Moeen Ali, Anrich Nortje, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Mayank Markande, Chetan Sakariya, Luvnith Sisodia.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru squad: Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Liam Livingstone, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh, Lungi Ngidi, Romario Shepherd, Manoj Bhandage, Rasikh Dar Salam, Nuwan Thushara, Jacob Bethell, Suyash Sharma, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara, Abhinandan Singh
(With ANI Inputs)
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