Krunal Pandya cleans up Rinku Singh for 12 in KKR vs RCB IPL 2025 Opener [Watch]

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) all-rounder Krunal Pandya cleaned up Kolkata Knight Riders' hard-hitter Rinku Singh for 12 for his third wicket in the IPL 2025 opener at Eden Gardens on Saturday. The left-handed batter tried to go for the pull shot but missed the ball completely and it clattered the stumps.

The dismissal occurred in the 15th over of the innings as it also proved to be Krunal's final. The left-arm spinner had only conceded four singles up until the final ball of the over, including a dot ball. Rinku, who had thrashed a boundary off Liam Livingstone through the mid-wicket region, went for a similar shot but the 33-year-old made a mess of his stumps.

Watch Rinku Singh's dismissal below:

Rinku Singh had a breakthrough season for the Knight Riders in 2023, hammering over 400 runs. However, he did not quite produce the goods in the 2024 edition despite the franchise winning the title, In 15 matches, he only managed 168 runs at 18.66.

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Krunal Pandya finishes with three wickets to restrict the defending champions to 174/8 in 20 overs

Krunal Pandya. (Image Credits: Getty)

Krunal Pandya had earlier dismissed the dangerous Venkatesh Iyer and skipper Ajinkya Rahane to peg the home side back in the tournament opener at the iconic venue. It was Royal Challengers skipper Rajat Patidar who had opted to bowl first, having won the toss for the first time as IPL captain.

Although Josh Hazlewood saw a catch dropped off him in the opening over, the Aussie seamer eventually got rid of Quinton de Kock cheaply a few balls later. However, Rahane and Sunil Narine put their foot on the pedal and kept hitting boundaries at will. The pair had stitched together a 103-run partnership until Narine perished for 44 as the West Indian was dismissed by Rasikh Salam.

Rahane departed for 56 and Angkrish Raghuvanshi was the only one to make a significant score among their middle-order batters. Pandya and Hazlewood share five wickets between them in eight overs for only 51 runs, with the former finishing with figures of 4-0-29-3.