IPL 2025: Tournament opener between KKR and RCB, Reliving the game when two teams clashed in IPL 2008 opener

The defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the tournament opener of the highly anticipated upcoming IPL 2025. The inaugural game of the 18th edition will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 22, at 7:30 PM (IST).

Notably, the schedule of the Indian Premier League 2025 has also given a nostalgic hit for the ardent cricket lovers who witnessed the same tournament opener between KKR and RCB 17 years back in IPL 2008. Not only in IPL 2008, it was also the first-ever game in the history of the cash-rich Indian franchise league, in which KKR and RCB took on each other.

With that said, here we’ll relive that iconic IPL 2008 opener between two of the most popular franchises, KKR and RCB played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 18, 2008.

Also Read: IPL 2025 Schedule: Kolkata Knight Riders to kick off season with match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, complete details revealed

The day when the ‘McCullum’ storm blew away the hosts RCB

The then-RCB skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and asked KKR to bat first; batting first, the visitors got a brilliant start of 61 runs for the first wicket by the opening pair of skipper Sourav Ganguly and wicketkeeper-batter Brendon McCullum.

It happened to be a day in the history of IPL when former blistering New Zealand batter Brendon McCullum smashed RCB bowlers in all corners of the ground at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. McCullum played a swashbuckling and an unbeaten knock of 158 runs off just 73 balls, with 10 fours and 13 sixes, registering a sensational strike rate of 216.43.

His one-man show helped KKR post a massive total of 222 runs for the loss of just 3 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. It also happened to be the first-ever 200+ team total in IPL history and that too in the first-ever game of the tournament’s history. Zaheer Khan, Ashley Noffke, and Jacques Kallis were the wicket-takers for RCB with a wicket each amidst the ‘McCullum’ storm that damaged RCB’s hopes in the tournament opener.

RCB batters fumbled during the huge run chase

While defending the target, the KKR bowlers completely outmuscled the RCB batting attack, bundling them out at the score of just 82 runs in 15.1 overs. Lower-order batter Praveen Kumar was the only batter for RCB to cross the double-digit mark as an individual score, hitting 18 runs off 15 balls, with one four and two sixes.

Ajit Agarkar scalped 3 wickets at 25 runs in his 4-over stint, alongside two wickets each picked by Ashok Dinda and skipper Sourav Ganguly. Besides these three, Ishant Sharma bowled the most economical spell of the entire game, conceding only 7 runs in three overs and scalping a wicket. Laxmi Ratan Shukla also claimed a wicket at 12 runs in 1.1 overs.

Eventually, KKR registered a massive 140-run win in the first-ever game in the history of the Indian Premier League. 

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