KOL vs BLR Records in Eden Gardens: After defeating them at their home ground in IPL 2024, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will now host Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in match number 1 of IPL 2025 at Eden Gardens on 22nd March. This will be the first time that both teams will face each other in the 18th season. The last time they played at Eden Gardens on 21 April 2024, KKR registered a thrilling victory against RCB by 1 run when the host KKR were defending a target of 223 runs while Phil Salt and Shreyas Iyer made things easy for KKR with their batting.
Now RCB, who are starting afresh in IPL 2025 to gain initial points and victories to shine in the points table have the perfect chance to take revenge on KKR by defeating them at their home ground and find their winning ways back in this new season. However, It won’t be an easy task to take down the defending champions KKR at their home ground. They are looking like a strong side with 9 wins in 14 league-stage matches of IPL 2024 and were ahead of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the points after winning the final.
Talking about their previous matches, RCB lost their last match to Rajasthan Royals after RCB posted the score of 172/8 in a play-off match which is a competitive total in a high-pressure match where the losing side faces elimination. In reply, RR batters also gave a tough fight with the courtesy of Yashasvi Jaiswal and achieved the target while batting in the second innings, i.e. 174/6, ending up winning the match by 4 wickets.
Talking about KKR, they are coming after defeating runners-up SRH in the IPL final 2024 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, after restricting SRH to a low score of 113 in 18.3 overs. KKR bowlers turned the match in their team’s favor as Andre Russell took three wickets and snatched the match away from SRH with his game-changing spells.
Let’s have a look at KOL vs BLR, Head to Head, Pitch Report, and Best Players for IPL 2025.
KOL vs BLR Head-to-Head in IPLÂ
Both KOL vs BLR have faced each other 34 times in the IPL, out of which, KKR have now won 20 matches, while RCB come out victorious on 14 occasions. Both teams played the first match during the inaugural match of IPL 2008 where KKR defeated RCB by 140 in Bengaluru, powered by Brenden McCullum’s fiery 158-run knock.Â
| Matches | KKR Won | RCB Won | Tie | NR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
KOL vs BLR Head-to-Head at Eden Gardens
Talking about matches at KKR’s home ground, Kolkata Knight Riders have hosted Royal Challengers Bengaluru 12 times at Eden Gardens in the IPL, winning eight of them, while RCB have defeated the hosts four times. The last time they played at this ground on 21st April, 2024, KKR thrashed RCB by 1 run. With the help of Phil Salt fiery 48 runs off 14 balls, along with crucial knocks by Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell, KKR posted 222/6 in their 20 overs. After that, Andre Russell and Harshit Rana turned on their pace magic taking 3 wickets and 2 wickets respectively and KKR bowled RCB out for 221 runs in 20.0 overs.
| Matches | KKR Won | RCB Won | Tie | NR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Eden Gardens Pitch Report
The surface of the Eden Gardens provides support for both batters and bowlers. The pitch has been prepared using black cotton soil that helps in maintaining good bounce which becomes paradise for the batters. However, as the game progresses, the pitch slows down, which is favorable for the spinners. In the last three IPL matches, the surface of Eden Gardens has been more favorable for the batters where Punjab Kings stormed with 262 runs in reply to KKR’s 262-run target winning the match by 8 wickets and KKR chased the target of 154 runs against Delhi Capitals under 16.3 overs. In the last match, KKR successfully defended the target of 158 runs swiftly restricting Mumbai Indians to 139/8 in 16 overs. In a recent T20I match at Eden Gardens where Varun Chakaravarthy’s spin brought him 3 wickets, India defeated England, chasing down 133 runs in 12.5 overs.
Eden Gardens, Kolkata IPL Records
The Eden Gardens in Kolkata hosted a total of 93 matches in the history of the IPL, out of which, 38 matches have been won by a team batting first, while 55 times, teams have won by chasing. The ground hosted its first-ever IPL matches in the inaugural season as Kolkata Knight Riders took on Deccan Chargers on 20th April 2008. After bowling out Chargers for 110, KKR chased the winning total in 19 overs by losing 5 wickets with David Hussey receiving a Player of the Match award for his all-round performance.
| City | Kolkata | ||
| Country | India | ||
| First Match | 20/04/2008 | ||
| Last T20 Match | 11/05/2024 | ||
| Matches Played | 93 | ||
| Matches Won Batting First | 38 (40.86%) | ||
| Matches Won Batting Second | 55 (59.14%) | ||
| Matches Won Winning Toss | 49 (52.69%) | ||
| Matches Won Losing Toss | 44 (47.31%) | ||
| Matches with No Result | 0 (0.00%) | ||
| Highest Individual Innings | 112* | R M Patidar (Royal Challengers Bangalore) | 25/05/2022 v Lucknow Super Giants |
| Best Bowling | 5/19 | S P Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders) | 15/04/2012 v Punjab Kings |
| Highest Team Innings | 262/2 (Punjab Kings) | 26/04/2024 v Kolkata Knight Riders | |
| Lowest Team Innings | 49 (Royal Challengers Bangalore) | 23/04/2017 v Kolkata Knight Riders | |
| Highest Run Chase Achieved | 262/2 (Punjab Kings) | 26/04/24 v Kolkata Knight Riders | |
| Average Runs per Wicket | 27.77 | ||
| Average Runs per Over | 8.46 | ||
| Average Score Batting First | 162.78 | ||
Key Players from both teams
KKR- X Factors
KKR have Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock as their opening pair that can give a fiery start to the team with de Kock focusing on timing the ball well and Narine going to hit every ball out of the park. In the middle-order, Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane provide more stability to the batting with Andre Russell and Rinku Singh looking to finish the innings on a high. In the bowling lineup, KKR have Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, and Anrich Nortje.
RCB- X Factors
Virat Kohli has been a lone warrior for RCB in the previous matches, and now skipper and worthy batter Rajat Patidar has a well-rounded squad. Along with them, Phil Salt has been in beast mode, especially during the power play. Tim David and Jitesh Sharma have also played a couple of good knocks and will be looking to score big in the match against KKR.lineupwling line up of RCB hasn’t been impressive in the previous season, but their spearhead fast bowlers like Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be looking to the things around and deliver match-winning spells against KKR.
