Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, lost their opening match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Eden Gardens. The hosts failed to post a competitive total and the likes of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli completed the task for the visiting team in Kolkata. KKR are blessed with match-winners but the collective failure of the big names was surprising.

Only captain Ajinkya Rahane and Sunil Narine showed their class with the bat, while the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh were found wanting.

Former India opener Aakash Chopra is backing three KKR players to come good in the remaining matches of the Indian Premier League 2025. The three-time champions will take on Rajasthan Royals in their next contest.

“KKR might not change anything except considering Nortje for Johnson. Even that it’s a mandatory change tbh. It’s their batting that needs to fire in the second half…too much quality there. Rinku, Raman, Russell. Difficult to imagine that they won’t fire sooner than later. But one BIG question tonight—Guwahati might get the most amount of dew…so, will we see the first ball-change of #IPL2025?” he wrote on X.

KKR might not change anything except considering Nortje for Johnson. Even that it’s a mandatory change tbh. It’s their batting that needs to fire in the second half…too much quality there. Rinku, Raman, Russell. Difficult to imagine that they won’t fire sooner than later.

But…

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 26, 2025

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals also started their IPL 2025 with a defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.