Kolkata Knight Riders have held bragging rights against Royal Challengers Bangalore ever since the first ever match of the Indian Premier League 18 years ago but on Saturday, at a packed Eden Gardens, a small dent was made to that head-to-head record.
New friends, old enemies for Kohli
KKR are still ahead of RCB in their face-offs but Bangalore went back home the happier side in one of the most hyped IPL season openers in recent memory.
Before the IPL 2025 tournament opener, KKR had won 20 of their 34 matches vs RCB and won 6 of their last 7 encounters.
With Ajinkya Rahane back in KKR ranks and taking over the captaincy mantle, it did look like the hosts were in control and storming towards a 200+ total before Krunal Pandya ran through their batting order with the key wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh.
KKR were restricted to 174 for 8 and the chase was a cakewalk for RCB who were aided along by a 95-run opening stand between Virat Kohl and Phil Salt, both men notching up aggressive half-centuries.
In the course of his innings, Kohli got to 1000 runs against the Knight Riders.
It was a special result for RCB, who had last defeated KKR back in 2022 by 3 wickets in Navi Mumbai. Between that game 3 years ago and the one on Saturday night, KKR defeated RCB by 81 runs, 21 runs, 7 wickets and by 1 run in an edge-of-the seat thriller at the Eden Gardens.
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