The defending Champs take on a side they tend to have the better of historically. The same fixture back in 2008 was what set the tournament up with Brendon McCullum announcing himself and the IPL with his 158. 18 years on, the same two teams kick things off again with Royal Challengers in a position similar to where they were back in 2008. Both teams come in with a new captain and their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. The Knight Riders start with a new captain in Ajinkya Rahane but are more or less returning with their core intact. They have their West Indies duo and Varun Chakravarthy in still but the loss of Mitchell Starc and Shreyas Iyer both seem questionable.

Bengaluru though threw up their core and went for a little revamp yet again. They are going with the talent of Rajat Patidar as captain. A level-headed Indian batter who bosses spin, the move has a lot of promise and the backing of the Virat Kohli. Their line-up has some stars but consistency and bowling is a question for them as it has been in a lot of seasons in the past.

KKR vs RCB Match Details

Date: March 21st, 2025

Time:  7:30 PM IST

Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

KKR vs RCB Weather Report

Clear weather and a nice evening is expected for the game.

See Also: KKR vs RCB Dream XI

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Pitch Report

Average Score Batting First in the last five games: 212

Average Score Batting Second in the last five games: 209

Wins Batting First in the last five games: 2

Wins Batting Second in the last five games: 3

Batting second could be a better choice to start with deep batting line-ups and dew playing a part.

See Also: South Africa vs New Zealand Dream XI Prediction

KKR vs RCB Head to Head

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Predicted Playing XI

Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XII

Quinton De Kock, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Harshith Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Spencer Johnson, Mayank Markande, Ramandeep Singh

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Playing XI

Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Jacob Bethell/ Tim David, Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam 

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Key Players

Varun Chakravarthy

Varun Chakravarthy has had a breakout year so far. Last seaosn too was a pretty good one for him. After a horrible game where his side could not defend 261, Varun Chakravarthy silently clawed his way back into the tournament last year and sparked a change in momentum, which is something rather forgetton. The form and variations gained are likely to help him as he knows batters will take him on with flat pitches and small boundaries on offer.

Rajat Patidar

Can Patidar live up to the reputation as spin hitter. Kolkata will come hard with their spinners and what will Patidar do. He is their best player of spin in the middle-order and how he goes is likely to set up the game with a lot of responsiblity thrust upon him. 

KKR vs RCB Match Tips

Kolkata start favorites ideally but RCB with a new leader could find new fortunes in what has been a rather onesided rivalry.

Match Prediction: Royal Challengers Bengaluru Will Win the Match