Andre Russell, Varun Chakaravarthy stop KKR practice to watch Virat Kohli bat before IPL 2025 opener vs RCB
Eden Gardens has a purple and gold tinge to it. The people of Kolkata turn up in large numbers to support the Kolkata Knight Riders, wearing the team’s colours during every IPL match. However, there are a couple of exceptions to it- against the Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli possess the unmatchable ability to turn every venue into their home ground. Based on the evidence before the IPL 2025 opener between KKR and RCB, the trend is set to remain unchanged.
One should not be surprised if RCB jerseys with ‘Virat’ written at the back outnumber the KKR purple and gold on Sunday at the Eden Gardens. Such is the mood in the historic city’s iconic stadium two days before the IPL opener. There is a clear-cut showstopper, and that is Virat Kohli.
As the city of joy prepared to host the opening ceremony followed by the tournament opener, Eden Gardens had already turned into Kohli’s territory. Generally, every stadium in India is whenever Kohli steps inside it, but the occasion becomes grander if the city and ground have as rich a history as Kolkata and Eden Gardens.
And the KKR players are not aloof to it. Minus mentor Gautam Gambhir and captain Shreyas Iyer, under whom they won last year’s IPL, KKR’s biggest crowd pullers are their trusted stewards, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. Two match winners from the Caribbean islands with contrasting characteristics. Narine is as calm as it gets. His emotional roller coaster is a straight line. Russell, on the other hand, makes little attempt to hide his intrusive thoughts. Even they were awestruck by Kohli.
Such was Kohli’s aura in his first nets session in Kolkata that Russell and Varun Chakaravarthy – one of India’s Champions Trophy heroes – stopped practice and turned around to marvel at the RCB’s legends strokeplay. There could be another reason why Russell and Chakaravarthy are keeping a close eye on Kohli. He is of course, their ‘No.1 enemy’ on Sunday.
The buzz created by Kohli’s presence on Thursday night was unmissable. According to local media reports, the K and L blocks of the Eden Gardens were made available for the fans to catch a glimpse of the players’ practising. While the KKR boys were in full attendance, all the interest was on Kohli. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of the ‘King’. Every shot that he played, every catch that he took brought loud cheers, prompting the KKR players to turn their heads towards the RCB nets multiple times.
Virat Kohli vs Varun Chakaravarthy
One of the most anticipated match-ups of the season will be Chakravarthy’s face-off with RCB’s star batter Virat Kohli.
However, he downplayed any special rivalry with the Bengaluru-based franchise.
“Nothing in specific, just the situation of those matches which helped me pick wickets. In all those games, the conditions and the situations were completely favourable towards us, so I was able to extract the best possible result,” he said.
KKR will have a new captain in Ajinkya Rahane and mentor in T20 legend Dwayne Bravo.
The Tamil Nadu spinner was optimistic about the squad’s potential and said the key would be to find the right combination early in the season.
“The squad looks good. I think it’s about cracking the code and having the best playing XI performing consistently. If we are able to get a set core in the first three matches, then we have great chances ahead in this season.”
