"No one was able to figure out a way to stop him" - Aakash Chopra on KKR player to watch out for in IPL 2025 clash vs RCB

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has picked Sunil Narine as a batter as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player to watch out for in their IPL 2025 clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He noted that the spin-bowling all-rounder's destructive batting at the top of the order was primarily responsible for the franchise's title-winning run last season.

KKR will host RCB in the IPL 2025 opener in Kolkata on Saturday, March 22. Narine will likely open for the home team alongside either Quinton de Kock or Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener opined that Narine's batting will be in focus in Saturday's game.

"Sunil Narine the opener. He will bowl four good overs, but how it goes for him with the bat. If you try to find last year's one defining factor, as to how KKR turned everything around, it was Sunil Narine's performance. He scored a century with the bat and then an eighty as well," he said (9:30).

"Consistently he was batting outside the powerplay overs, which means he was batting deep into the T20 innings, and he was scoring a lot of runs. No one was able to figure out a way to stop him, and that changed everything. He allowed everyone to go helter-skelter. If you want to give Sunil Narine a long rope, he needs to score runs," Chopra added.

Sunil Narine was the Kolkata Knight Riders' highest run-getter in IPL 2024. The left-handed opener smashed 488 runs at a strike rate of 180.74 in 14 innings last season.

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"It all depends on how the RCB spinners bowl" - Aakash Chopra on the 'make-or-break' factors in KKR vs RCB IPL 2025 clash

Krunal Pandya was one of the spinners acquired by RCB at the IPL 2025 auction. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra opined that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru spinners' performances could decide the result of their IPL 2025 opener against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

"What will be the make or break? Where will the match be won or lost? I think it all depends on how the RCB spinners bowl because that is their one weak area. So whether it's Krunal Pandya, Suyash Sharma, who used to be with KKR, Liam Livingstone or Jacob Bethell, how they bowl spin will hold the key not just for this game but going forward as well," he said (11:30).

The cricketer-turned-analyst added that the performances of the overseas seamer and top-order batters could hold the key for KKR in Saturday's game.

"When I think from Kolkata's viewpoint, I see two things. Since Mitchell Starc is not there, either Spencer Johnson or Anrich Nortje will play in his place. So how they do and then the batting at the top. There has been a shake-up there as Phil Salt and Shreyas Iyer are no longer there. So how they play there - these two things might just decide the outcome of this game," Chopra elaborated.

Anrich Nortje (₹6.50 crore) and Spencer Johnson (₹2.80 crore) were the two overseas seamers picked by KKR at the IPL 2025 auction. The three-time champions acquired Quinton de Kock (₹3.60 crore) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (₹2 crore) as wicketkeeper-batters, with Rovman Powell (₹1.50 crore) and Moeen Ali (₹2 crore) potentially being picked as backups for Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, respectively.