IPL 2025 KKR vs RCB Highlights: Fifties from Kohli and Salt Guide RCB to Victory

The first match of the IPL 2025 has concluded in Eden Gardens, Kolkata, with RCB defeating the defending champions by dominating by 7 wickets. KKR put up the target of 175 thanks to Rahanes’s fifty and Narine’s attacking inning. However, RCB, with the help of Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 59 runs off 36 balls and Phil Salt’s attacking fifty, chased down the target comfortably in just 16.2 overs.

IPL 2025 KKR vs RCB Highlights

In the first match of the IPL 2025, RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bowl first against Ajinkya Rahane’s KKR. Surprisingly, RCB did not name Bhuvneshwar Kumar in their playing XI. Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine came to open the inning for KKR, and Josh Hazlewood dismissed QDK early on with just 4 runs. The team dominated the first three overs, but after surviving three overs, Narine and Rahane took charge and bounced back hard to reach a total of 60 in the powerplay and continued their attack past the mark of 100 in just 10 overs.

Leading from the front and doing it in some style! 🫡💗#AjinkyaRahane brings up his third-fastest fifty in the #TATAIPL, owning this Battle of Royalty with pure class! 💪🏻

Watch LIVE action: https://t.co/iB1oqMusYv #IPLonJioStar 👉 #KKRvRCB, LIVE NOW on Star Sports Network &… pic.twitter.com/RH8cGcmDmR

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 22, 2025

However, RCB bounced back in the second half of the first inning, where Rasikh Salam broke the partnership by dismissing Narine on 44 runs, and Krunal Pandya took the wicket of Rahane on 56 runs in the next over to bring RCB back into the game. After the 2nd wicket partnership, the KKR innings slipped, and they only managed to put up a total of 174 at the loss of 8 wickets. However, Angkrish Raghuvanshi played a decent inning of 30 runs off 22 balls in the middle. Krunal took 3 wickets, Hazlewood got 2, and Dayal, Suyash, and Rasikh got 1 each.

A stroke which had class written all over it! 😍#ViratKohli lifts an overpitched delivery effortlessly for a sublime six! 🫰🏻

Watch LIVE action: https://t.co/iB1oqMusYv #IPLonJioStar 👉 #KKRvRCB, LIVE NOW on Star Sports Network & JioHotstar! pic.twitter.com/zIapSr0RNj

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 22, 2025

While chasing the target of 175, RCB opener Phil Salt and Virat Kohli got off to a flying start. Phil Salt smashed 56 runs off just 31 balls and got out to Varun Chakravarthy, and Devdutt Padikkal came as an impact substitute but did not manage to impress and got out on 10 runs. However, Virat Kohli continued his attack with captain Rajat Patidar and with the finishing touches of Liam Livingstone, RCB chased down the target in just 16.2 overs. Virat scored an amazing inning of unbeaten 59 runs off just 36 balls including 4 sixes and 3 fours.