Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Prediction: Kolkata Knight Riders to win first IPL 2025 game

The India Premier League season is about to begin and all actions are expected to kick off on Thursday. Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be the first fixture that will be played. It will be held at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Who will win this game of cricket?

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders are a strong favorite and the reason is not far-fetched. They were the winners of the IPL last season following a victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets. The top players that season were Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. They recorded 488 runs and 21 Scalps respectively. Other players who will be instrumental to their performance in this much-needed win are Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and captain Ajinkya Rahane.

Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted line up

Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy,, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Moeen Ali, Umran Malik.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

The squad of Royal Challengers Bengaluru is strong with legendary Batter, Virat Kohil in it. In this matchup, they will be trusted to utilize his skills and that of Phil Salt and Rajat Patidar to make an impression in their first game. Their strategy will be to ensure that they anchor the innings and utilize the pace of the team. Within the team, there is a new captain to coordinate the plans. Royal Challengers Bengaluru's attacking lineup is with youthfulness and vast experience. They will be looking to utilize players like Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for pace attack.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Predicted Lineup

Rajat Patidar (C), Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livngstone, Tim David, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Salam Dar, Suvyash Sharma

Expert Betting Tips

With the first IPL 2025 match set to take place, both teams boast of a balanced squad. Both sides first met in the IPL 2008 and their actions are described as “El Primo”. Kolkata Knight Riders are strong favorites by the bookies and they are expected to make an impact in this match. I expect a tight-end game in this fixture. KKR have the experience and are recent winners, so we expect a win from them.

Our first prediction is Kolkata Knight Riders to win - 1.82 odds for 1xbet

Our second prediction is Varun Chakravarthy player of the match - 5.50 odds for BCgame

Our third prediction is Kolkata Knight Riders to win the toss - 1.90 odds for 4rabet