Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders will kickstart their title defense against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on March 22 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in what will be the first instance of the Indian Premier League (IPL) giants playing the tournament opener since the inaugural edition in 2008.

KKR's last match of the season will also be against RCB when the two sides face off against each other at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 17. The Knight Riders are in Group A alongside RCB, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rajasthan Royals (RR), and Punjab Kings (PBKS). Alongside these four teams, they will play Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) twice in the league stage. The three-time champions will play just one match each against Mumbai Indians (MI), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and Delhi Capitals (DC) just once.

KKR have the unique chance to defend the title on home soil as Kolkata will host the final on May 25.

Match	Date	Start Time (IST)	Venue
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru	22nd March (Saturday)	7:30 PM	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royal	26th March (Wednesday)	7:30 PM	Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians	31st Match (Monday)	7:30 PM	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad	3rd April (Thursday)	7:30 PM	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants	6th April (Sunday)	3:30 PM	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings	11th April (Friday)	7:30 PM	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings	15th April (Tuesday)	7:30 PM	Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Gujarat Titans	21st April (Monday)	7:30 PM	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings	26th April (Saturday)	7:30 PM	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Rider vs Delhi Capitals	29th April (Tuesday)	7:30 PM	Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals	4th May (Sunday)	7:30 PM	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings	7th May (Wednesday)	7:30 PM	Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad	10th May (Saturday)	7:30 PM	Rajiv Gandhi Stadiun, Hyderabad
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru	17th May (Saturday)	7:30 PM	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Ahead of the 2025 IPL mega auction, KKR made a shock by not retaining title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer. This will be the first instance of a team defending the title without a new captain. The Knight Riders are yet to name their new captain.

However, they retained their full quota of six players, with Rinku Sinku, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh staying with the franchise. At the auction table, they spend a whopping Rs. 23.75 crore.

The franchise has seen a wholesale change in the coaching staff before the 2025 season after departure of Gautam Gambhir, Ryan ten Doeschate, and Abhishek Nayyar. Dwayne Bravo has joined KKR as mentor.

KKR IPL 2025 Squad: Rinku Singh (Retained, Rs. 13 Crore), Varun Chakaravarthy (Retained, Rs. 12 Crore), Sunil Narine (Retained, Rs. 12 Crore), Andre Russell (Retained Rs. 12 Crore), Harshit Rana (Retained Rs. 4 Crore), Ramandeep Singh (Retained Rs. 4 Crore), Venkatesh Iyer (Rs. 23.75 crore), Quinton de Kock (Rs. 3.60 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Rs. 2 crore), Anrich Nortje (Rs. 6.50 crore), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Rs. 3 crore), Vaibhav Arora (Rs. 1.80 crore), Mayank Markande (Rs. 30 lakh), Rovman Powell (Rs. 1.50 crore), Manish Pandey (Rs. 75 lakh), Spencer Johnson (Rs. 2.80 crore), Luvnith Sisodia (Rs. 30 lakh), Ajinkya Rahane (Rs. 1.50 lakh), Anukul Roy (Rs. 40 lakh), Moeen Ali (Rs. 2 crore), Umran Malik (Rs. 75 lakh).

KKR Likely Playing XI in IPL 2025: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Angrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik (Impact Sub)

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