Royal Challengers Bengaluru comprehensively defeated Kolkata Knight Riders in the first match of IPL 2025. The visitors were tested in the first 10 overs of the contest but made a resounding comeback and didn’t look back. After taking Ajinkya Rahane’s and Sunil Narine’s wickets, the two set batters, RCB dominated the proceedings. They kept the KKR’s total to 174/8 in 20 overs, with Krunal Pandya (3 wickets) and Josh Hazlewood (2 wickets) proving unplayable. The chase of 175 became easy because of half-centuries by Virat Kohli and Phil Salt.
Former India player Robin Uthappa highlighted Rajat Patidar’s captaincy performance after the franchise’s seven-wicket victory. It was Patidar’s first game as a leader after getting the captain’s armband before the start of the season. He remained calm when Rahane and Narine went on a rampage and used his bowlers perfectly. He planned the downfall of the dangerous Andre Russell. Suyash Sharma was hit to all parts by the KKR batters, but Rajat brought him back in from the West Indies all-rounder.
Russell hit him for a boundary, but the spinner still gave a flight to the ball in front of the batter and successfully managed to outclass him. Andre was cleaned bowled on the fourth delivery of the 16th over. The right-handed batter was clean-bowled after scoring just 4 runs. This move was lauded by many former cricketers.
“Rajat Patidar is tailor-made for captaincy, and I feel that RCB can win the IPL title under his captaincy. He was impressive as a captain, and his bowling changes were spot-on. He didn’t use DRS and trusted his players,” Robin Uthappa said on Star Sports.