Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s new joiner Krunal Pandya with his three-wicket haul contained KKR for 174 runs for eight wickets loss at the end of 20 overs.
Though KKR made a strong comeback after their early wicket, RCB bowlers started to dominate the hosts with their impressive bowling attack. Particularly, Krunal Pandya made an exceptional inning by bagging three wickets in four overs for 29 runs.
Speaking of the match Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won the toss and opted to bowl first. Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine opened the innings for KKR while Josh Hazlewood opened the bowling attack for RCB.
de Kock made an aggressive start by hitting the boundary of the second ball but in the very next ball de Kock got a life as Suyash Sharma dropped a dolly.
But in the fifth delivery of the same over, Hazlewood dismissed de Kock as Jitesh Sharma took an excellent catch behind the stumps.
GONE!⚡🧤
After getting a life, #QuintondeKock is caught behind courtesy a neat catch and #JoshHazlewood has the first wicket of #TATAIPL 2025! ❤
Watch LIVE action: https://t.co/iB1oqMusYv #IPLonJioStar 👉 #KKRvRCB, LIVE NOW on Star Sports Network & JioHotstar! pic.twitter.com/8W2uZzcDng
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 22, 2025
Following an early dismissal, Ajinkya Rahane and Sunil Narine made a terrific stand and started to smash RCB bowlers all around the Eden Garden. During the process, Ajinkya Rahane registers his maiden fifty as KKR captain.
While the due was seen as dangerous, Rasikh Salam broke the 103 runs stand by dismissing Narine for 44 runs in the final delivery of the 10th over.
At the end of the 10th over, KKR scored 107 runs for two wickets. Krunal Pandya in the very next over dismissed well-settled batter Rahane for 56 runs and added pressure over the KKR batting lineup.
Following the skipper’s dismissal, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Venkatesh Iyer showed some confidence by scoring 14 runs in the 12th over from Suyash Sharma. But Krunal Pandya in the first legal delivery of the 13th over dismissed Venkatesh Iyer for six runs which made KKR to score 131 runs for four-wicket loss at the end of 13 overs.
KKR’s aggressive batters Rinku Singh and Andre Russell fall cheaply while the remaining lower-order batters too walk off without making much contribution.
At the end of 20 overs, KKR scored 174 runs for eight wickets loss with Ajinkya Rahane’s 56 remaining the KKR’s highest individual score.
