The IPL 2025 season kicked off with an exciting clash between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Eden Gardens. However fans were left wondering why Bhuvneshwar Kumar one of RCB’s biggest signings at ₹10.75 crore, was missing from the playing XI.

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RCB’s newly appointed skipper Rajat Patidar who won the toss and opted to bowl first confirmed that Bhuvneshwar Kumar was not injured. Instead the decision to leave him out was purely tactical as RCB had several pace options available.

Instead of Bhuvneshwar RCB went with a pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar andYash Dayal.

Additionally RCB’s bowling combination included two spinners making it difficult to accommodate another fast bowler.

After winning the toss RCB captain Rajat Patidar said “We have decided to bowl first; the pitch looks hard. Amazing to lead RCB and great opportunity to learn from the great players. We have done proper preparations for the last 10-15 days.”

Meanwhile, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane was excited about leading his team "It’s an honour to lead this team. Our preparation has been good, the core group has been the same. Looking forward to bat well first and defend later on. It is all about giving the players the freedom and allow them to play as a unit."

RCB Playing XI: Virat Kohli, Philip Salt (wk), Rajat Patidar(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal

Impact Sub: Devdutt Padikkal, Abhinandan Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh

KKR Playing XI: Quinton de Kock(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy