IPL 2025, KKR vs RCB: Eden Gardens prepares as league comes full circle, but rain threat looms

While preparations are on in full swing, for the match as well as the glittering opening ceremony, the weather in Kolkata might have other ideas. On Friday, practice sessions had to be cut short due to rain. With Eden under covers, the India Meteorological Department predicted that thunderstorms and rain are likely in parts of West Bengal till Saturday owing to favourable wind patterns and strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal.

With the city getting short bursts of rain in the previous couple of days, the day of the match has AccuWeather predicting the match day to be ‘cloudy in the morning with a couple of showers, then intervals of clouds and sunshine in the afternoon’. At the time of the match, the rain threat lessens but still reads at 6% probability of thundershowers at night which might lead to a shortened match.

Kolkata’s leadership transition

Even after retaining a majority of the players from their third trophy-winning season, KKR are firmly in transition with huge changes in leadership positions. Ajinkya Rahane has replaced Shreyas Iyer in the captaincy hot seat while mentor Gautam Gambhir took up the India head coach position and was replaced by former Chennai Super Kings icon Dwayne Bravo. Coupled with the loss of Phil Salt and Mitchell Starc, the Kolkata-based franchise will look to sidestep their tendency of slumping after winning a title. They won the trophy in 2012 and 2014; they finished 7th in 2013 and 5th in 2015.

Even though his previous captaincy record is nothing to write home about, with the Mumbai player captaining 25 matches in the star-studded league and winning just 9, with Rahane as their skipper, Kolkata might just have the experienced hand it needs to keep the ship on course.

The batter has had a tremendous domestic season in 2024, leading Mumbai to the Irani Cup and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy titles. In the SMAT T20s, he even topped the batting charts, smashing 469 runs in 8 innings at an average of 58.62 and a strike rate of 164.56.

Magic in Motion ✨💜 pic.twitter.com/vYtUNhKs9J

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 21, 2025

With Bravo, KKR have roped in a player who has a habit of winning. The West Indian all-rounder has won 17 franchise titles, including the IPL with Chennai Super Kings as both player and coach. If he can inject that ‘winning mentality’ into the current crop of Knights, the franchise will be looking at a glorious future.

Spin for the win

The Knights have lost Starc to the Delhi Capitals in the auctions which has left them wanting in the pacers’ department with the ageing Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana and Spencer Johnson leading the lines. But the Purple and Gold franchise’s real bowling strength comes in the form of the deadly duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, who played a huge part in securing the franchise’s 3rd title last year.

Chakravarthy, who was a vital cog in India’s recent victorious Champions Trophy triumph, was the second-highest wicket-taker in last year’s IPL with 21 scalps while the economical Narine stifled the opposition batters and took 17 wickets in 14 innings at an economy of 6.69, averaging just 21.64.

With IPL introducing the new rule where a team has the option of using a second ball after the 11th over with the umpire’s permission in case dew plays spoilsport, expect KKR’s spin combo to be their most lethal weapon.

Garden main koyi nahi ghumega. ❌

But it’s Eden Gardens. 😎#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2025 pic.twitter.com/McFAkYvXrx

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) March 21, 2025

RCB hopes rest on overseas players

RCB made some shrewd buys in the mega auctions securing big names like Salt, who they bought for Rs 11.5 crore after the English batter wasn’t retained by the KKR franchise, as well as forking out Rs 12.5 crore for Aussie pacer Josh Hazlewood. To add to their batting power of Virat Kohli and Salt, they also recruited big hitters like Liam Livingstone and Tim David who will help them shore up their middle and lower order.

The franchise also braces itself for a change in leadership. New captain in Rajat Patidar is relatively inexperienced in a leadership role, but he will have the comfort of relying on the advice of players like Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hazlewood, Salt and Krunal Pandya.