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Ahead of IPL 2025, RCB head coach Andy Flower playfully taunted KKR, expressing confidence in his team.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower took a dig at Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday, March 22.
RCB and KKR are meeting for the 35th time in the history of IPL. In their last 34 encounters since the first match of the tournament in 2008, Kolkata Knight Riders emerged victorious on 20 occasions, while Kolkata Knight Riders won in 14 matches. The last face off between two sides was in the league stage of the IPL 2024, KKR defeated RCB by just one run at the Eden Gardens Stadium.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru have returned to Kolkata after nearly a year, looking to turn their tide against the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders and start their IPL 2025 on a winning note. At the press conference on the eve of IPL 2025 opener, RCB head coach Andy Flower was asked by the reporter whether the match against KKR would be ‘daunting’ since the match is taking place in Kolkata. In his response, Flower turned the tables upside down.
Andy Flower hilariously said that KKR will face difficulty in facing his team RCB. He also hoping for an El Clasico-like encounter to kick off the IPL 2025 in style.
“Yes, it is very daunting. For KKR! I hope it is an El Clasico tomorrow night. That'll be a brilliant way to start IPL 2025," Flower told the reporter.
Virat Kohli with Coach Andy flower ahead of the opening match of IPL 2025 against KKR..!!🔥 pic.twitter.com/kmxuddwovg
— DEEP SINGH (@TheAllr0under)Ahead of the IPL 2025, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru appointed their new captains. After Shreyas Iyer left KKR and moved to Punjab Kings, where he will be leading the team, the franchise appointed Ajinkya Rahane as the skipper, with Venkatesh Iyer as the vice-captain for the 18th edition of the tournament.
RCB, on the other hand, appointed Rajat Patidar as their new captain for the team after Faf du Plessis was released from the franchise and moved to Delhi Capitals, where he will be the vice-captain. There were speculations that Virat Kohli was likely to be back at the helm as the RCB captain, but he reportedly declined the offer by the franchise and asked to hand over leadership duties to Patidar.
Over the last couple of years, many teams have either posted hefty totals on the board or chased down the challenging targets. In the last IPL season, Sunrisers Hyderabad shattered the record for the highest totals three times. At the Eden Gardens Stadium last year, Punjab Kings chased down 262-run target set by Kolkata Knight Riders, which became the highest successful run-chase in the history of IPL.
Speaking about the growing trends of increasing scores in the IPL over the last few years, Andy Flower stated that fitness levels and approach of modern batters are the reason behind it.
“A lot of the batters are becoming bigger and stronger and are starting to recognise the importance of it.” the 56-year-old said,
“But there's still a place in the game for players like Virat Kohli as well. Obviously, he’s a super fit, strong young man as well. There's still space for high-quality, highly intelligent cricketers like that as well," he added.
Also read: IPL 2025, KKR vs RCB: What happens if rain disrupt opening match at Eden Gardens?
KKR Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer (vc), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Mayank Markande, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia (wk), Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Moeen Ali, Chetan Sakariya, Spencer Johnson.
RCB Squad: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (c), Swastik Chikara, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma, Philip Salt, Manoj Bhandage, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Mohit Rathee, Abhinandan Singh.
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