Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will get the Indian Premier League season 18 - IPL 2025 campaign under way against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday (March 22).
Ajinkya Rahane's KKR will be up against Rajat Patidar's RCB in the 18th IPL season opening match, also featuring some greats of the league in Virat Kohli, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.

This will be the second time these two teams collide in first match of an IPL season. KKR and RCB got the ball rolling in the lucrative league, when it was founded in 2008 as the two sides locked horns in IPL's first match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
On that night, Brendon McCullum representing KKR blew away RCB with a knock of 158 to announce the arrival of what is to come in the next few years. Since then, 16 more IPL opening matches have taken place with RCB and KKR also involved in other season openers.
RCB possess a poor record of just one win in five IPL tournament openers so far with their solitary victory coming against Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2021. KKR, on the other hand, have won 6 of 7 IPL first matches with their sole defeat coming against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2011.
KKR, however, got the better of CSK in their most recent tournament opener in 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, while RCB lost to the same opposition last year at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Here is a look at the IPL first match list with their results: