Virat Kohli led the charge in the Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL 2025 opening, which was a rather one-sided match. As RCB chased down a 175-run target in just 16.2 overs, the chase-master scored an undefeated 59 (36 balls).
Virat Kohli's popularity was also evident during the match. The evening began with Shah Rukh Khan dancing with the star to a song from the film "Pathaan," and then the BCCI congratulated him on his 18th birthday in the IPL. A fan broke through security and entered the stadium to greet him, touching Kohli's feet and refusing to let go of the star until stadium security officers stepped in.
In the opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Eden Gardens on Saturday, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated the reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by seven wickets thanks to half-centuries from Phil Salt (56), who went hard in power-play, and Virat Kohli (59 not out).
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Salt and Kohli started off hot, stitching a 95-run opening stand after Krunal Pandya's 3-29 and Josh Hazlewood's 2-22 helped RCB mount a comeback and hold KKR to 174/8. Even though Salt was dismissed well before the halfway point of the chase, Kohli was still undefeated at 59 from 36 balls, and RCB won handily with 22 balls remaining.
After launching a brilliant cover drive off Vaibhav Arora to start the chase, Salt was flipped out by Kohli in the first over. After that, Salt lofted Arora over mid-on for a four and a six on consecutive balls after hitting a cover drive off Spencer Johnson.
Salt finished the third over by upper-cutting the bowler for six after Kohli had swiped Arora through the line for four. 21 runs came off the fourth over as Salt resumed his assault, hitting Varun Chakaravarthy for two fours and a six down the ground with his wrists before dragging him over the deep square-leg boundary for four more.
Johnson was straight-lofted for consecutive sixes down the ground by Kohli, who then led him through backward point for four, the innings' most impressive moment. Before Salt reached his fifty in twenty-five balls, Kohli slog-swept Chakaravarthy for six after his catch off Harshit Rana was spilled by deep cover.
However, as the batter lunged for the leg-break, Chakaravarthy finally got Salt, but the short third man grabbed the outside edge. Devdutt Padikkal took a deep mid-wicket off Narine shortly after. However, Kohli strode forward and smashed a brilliant drive off Harshit Rana in the 13th over to reach his 56th IPL fifty in 30 balls.
After lofting Narine for six, captain Rajat Patidar looked very good. He then lofted, flicked, square-driving, and late-cut Rana for four boundaries. Liam Livingstone pulled for a four and a six each before smashing past mid-on to get the winning boundary and give RCB a commanding victory, even though Patidar holed out to deep mid-wicket off Arora.
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