Varun Chakaravarthy ends Phil Salt's carnage on 56 in KKR vs RCB IPL 2025 match [Watch]

Kolkata Knight Riders' leg-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy gave their side the much-needed breakthrough, dismissing Phil Salt in the IPL 2025 opener against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). With the Englishman going hammer and tongs, the 33-year-old decived him for 56 to take his first wicket of the innings.

The dismissal occurred in the ninth over of the innings. Knight Riders skipper Ajinkya Rahane brought Chakravarthy to bowl his third, having gone for 27 runs off his couple. With the right-handed batter going hard at a ball outside off, all he managed was a thick edge. Spencer Johnson, who was stationed at short third man, took a smart catch by sliding to his left. The wicket broke the 95-run stand between Salt and Virat Kohli, giving the defending champions some respite.

Watch the 28-year-old's dismissal here:

Salt had notably taken the spinner to the cleaners in his first over as Rahane brought him inside the powerplay. The England opener, who brought up his fifty only off 25 balls, went hammer and tongs by smashing three fours and a six, clattering 22 runs off that over. The Royal Challengers' score read 58/0 after four overs.

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Krunal Pandya and Josh Hazlewood did an outstanding job with the ball before Phil Salt's assault

Phil Salt. (Image Credits: Getty)

Meanwhile, Rajat Patidar and his men did a sensational job to restirct the Knight Riders to 174/8 in their stipulated 20 overs, having chosen to field first. Although Josh Hazlewood had nipped out Quinton de Kock in the very first over, Sunil Narine and Rahane were hammering boundaries at will.

Rasikh Salam broke the 103-run stand by dismissing Narine for 44 and Krunal Pandya ended Rahane's stay on 56. While Angkrish Raghuvanshi did his best, scoring 30, the likes of Andre Russell and Rinku Singh failed to produce the runs. Pandya produced figures of 4-0-29-3, while Hazlewood finished with a haul of 4-0-22-2.

The Royal Challengers had lost to the eventual champions twice last year; hence, it would be a welcome win this year.