IPL 2025: KKR vs RCB, Match 1 – Fantasy Cricket Tips, Key Players, Probable XIs, Captain, Vice-Captain & More

KKR vs RCB Dream11 Prediction: The much awaited IPL 2025 is set to begin as the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will lock horns with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the opening match of the season. The match will be played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 22. It will be the rewind of the inaugural IPL season where KKR and RCB played a first match to kickstart the league. Now, as the tournament is heading towards its 18th season, both the teams are set to play the match again.

Both KKR and RCB will be seen playing under a new leader in IPL 2025. Veteran Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane has been appointed as skipper for KKR ahead of the upcoming season while Rajat Patidar is set to take the charge for RCB this time. Let’s have a look at fantasy cricket tips, pitch report, probable XIs, captain, vice captain and more ahead of the KKR vs RCB IPL 2025 first match.

KKR vs RCB Match Details

KKR vs RCB IPL Head-to-Head Stats & Records

Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru share an interesting rivalry in the IPL and have been engaged in thrilling encounters throughout the years. However, KKR have an upper hand against RCB, as they won 20 out of the 34 matches played between both the teams, while RCB come out victorious on 14 occasions.

KKR vs RCB Pitch Report

The surface of the Eden Gardens is mostly flat and provides perfect bounce. This means that the batters will enjoy their time on the pitch in a tournament like the IPL and a big score is expected. However, as the match progresses, the pitch becomes slow which turns out to be beneficial for the spinners. Out of 93 IPL matches played at this ground, the team batting first won 38 times while the chasing team came out victorious on 55 occasions.

KKR vs RCB Probable Playing XIs

KKR Probable Playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Manish Pandey, and Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Vaibhav Arora

Impact Player: Mayank Markande

RCB Probable Playing XI: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal

Impact player: Suyash Sharma

KKR vs RCB Full Squads

KKR: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Chetan Sakariya

RCB: Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethel, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee

Top Captaincy and Vice-Captaincy Picks for KKR vs RCB

Q. Why Virat Kohli and Sunil Narine are good choices for captaincy picks?

Star RCB batter Virat Kohli has great records while batting against KKR in the IPL. He is also likely to play a big knock as he will come to bat up in the order. On the other hand, Sunil Narine has been a consistent performer with both bat and ball while playing against RCB and is also a crucial player for KKR throughout the years.

Q Why Phil Salt and Andre Russell are good choices for vice–captaincy picks?

RCB batter Phil Salt will be seen playing against his previous franchise KKR in the very first match of IPL 2025. While playing for KKR, Salt has great records while batting at Eden Gardens amassing 350 runs with a strike rate of 185.19 at this ground. He could play a crucial role for RCB in the opening match of the season. However, talking about Andre Russell, the star KKR all-rounder loves to play against RCB and is known for smashing big hits in the death overs.

KKR vs RCB, IPL 2025 Match 1: Key Players

Phil Salt: RCB’s newest pick Phil Salt will be player to look for out in the opening match against KKR. Salt was a part of KKR in IPL 2024 and and have good records while batting at Eden Gardens.

Phil Salt’s Last five matches batting figures

Virat Kohli: Star RCBbatter Virat Kohli is likely to play a big knock in the opening match of KKR. Kohli finished as the leading run scorer in the last edition in 2024 and has also showed great form in recent times including the England series and the Champions Trophy.

Virat Kohli’s Last five matches batting figures

Sunil Narine: Sunil Narine has the ability to change the momentum of the match with both bat and ball. He has impressive batting records against RCB where he boasts a massive strike rate of 182.91.

Sunil Narine’s Last Five Matches: Bowling & Batting figures

Andre Russell: KKR all-rounder Andre Russell has a great record while batting against RCB and boasts a strike rate of 198.59 against them. He will be looking to play another big knock against RCB in the opening match of IPL 2025.

Sunil Narine’s Last Five Matches: Bowling & Batting figures

KKR vs RCB, IPL 2025 Match 1: Players to Avoid

Devdutt Padikkal: Devdutt Padikkal is back at RCB after four years and will provide more depth to their batting order. However, one couldn’t make a bet on Padikkal as he is unlikely to get a chance in RCB’s playing XI and could be seen playing as an impact player.

Anrich Nortje: KKR fast bowler Anrich Nortje is set to play at Eden Gardens for the first time. He could be a part of KKR’s XI in opening game but isn’t likely to be effective with the ball.

KKR vs RCB Fantasy Team 1

Wicketkeeper: Phil Salt (vc)

Batters: Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Tim David

All-Rounders: Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell

Bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Varun Chakravarthy

KKR vs RCB Fantasy Team 2

Wicketkeeper: Phil Salt

Batters: Virat Kohli, Tim David, Rajat Patidar, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh

All-Rounders: Andre Russell (vc), Sunil Narine (c), Venkatesh Iyer

Bowlers: Varun Chakravarthy, Josh Hazlewood

Disclaimer: The fantasy tips and facts expressed within this article are the author's personal opinions. They do not reflect the views of SportsTiger. It is not a reflection of the actual points you might earn. SportsTiger does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.