The alarm bells are ringing. A note of caution has been sounded for Kolkata Knight Riders who hardly looked like the well-knit unit of last year in the IPL 2025 opener.
On the other hand, bowlers of all teams have also been put on notice since Virat Kohli has carried his devastating form into the IPL.
The full house at Eden Gardens on Saturday evening had their hands full. The home team failed to live up to expectations but there was entertainment in plenty — Shah Rukh Khan shaking a leg with Kohli in tow, Shreya Ghoshal’s mellifluous voice and the Kohli dhamaka with the bat which saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru launch their campaign on a winning note.
The seven-wicket loss was so heartbreaking that Shah Rukh didn’t come back to the ground after the match for his customary meet-and-greet session with the spectators.
It was all about Kohli and a former Knight in Phil Salt. He blasted the KKR attack from the outset in their chase of 175 to ruin any chance of a turnaround. The opening pair put together 95 in 8.3 overs to make it a one-sided contest.
Kohli was at his lethal best. Never before has he reached 25 off 10 balls in a T20 innings and there was no stopping him. He started off by slog-sweeping Varun Chakravarthy’s challenge and never allowed him to make inroads. With Sunil Narine too hardly making an impact, the Knights had to be content with playing catch-up.
Captain’s knock
Suyash Sharma had tossed it up on the off stump, hoping it to land on a length and straighten. Ajinkya Rahane had been timing the ball perfectly and didn’t waste a
second to get into the perfect position.
Down on one knee, he slammed his slog sweep over mid-wicket for a six to complete his half-century off 25 balls. It allowed the Eden Gardens crowd to find their voice back after being silenced in the opening overs.
For Rahane, it was his third-fastest fifty in the IPL and included six fours and four sixes. It was the counterattack KKR needed.
The new ball was doing quite a bit at Eden Gardens as KKR struggled to nine in the first three overs after losing Quinton de Kock.
Rahane (56 off 31) was unflustered, showing his team that there was nothing much to worry about. It encouraged Narine to break free after having one of his slowest starts in the IPL — 5 off 11.
To begin with, he slammed Rasikh Salam for two sixes and a boundary in the fourth over. That opened the floodgates for the home team. KKR jumped to 60 in the Powerplay overs.
Hazlewood’s class
On an Eden wicket which offered pace and carry, Josh Hazlewood utilised the conditions superbly. He dried up the runs and cramped De Kock for space early in the innings.
The way Hazlewood used the angles in the Powerplay and the slog overs made it very difficult to score off him. His pinpoint accuracy and relentless consistency made it tougher for the batters.
Krunal Pandya may have been the most successful bowler, but that was more to do with reckless batting than the bowler’s guile.
