Ajinkya Rahane lit up Eden Gardens in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener. On his captaincy debut for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Rahane scored a half-century and shared a century-plus stand alongside Sunil Narine for the 2nd wicket against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Rahane, who walked in when his side was 4/1, ended up scoring a 31-ball 56. KKR were 109/3 when Rahane departed. KKR lost Quinton de Kock early in the 1st over (4/1) as the hosts struggled to be 9/1 after three overs. Rahane, who started by facing three dot balls, opened his arms and bashed Rasikh Salam for 16 runs. He then smashed Krunal Pandya for two fours before tormenting Yash Dayal. KKR were 60/1 after six overs with Rahane on 39 from 16 balls. After the powerplay, both Rahane and Narine continued to play sensible cricket and punished the odd bad deliveries. In the 9th over, Rahane got to his fifty from 25 balls. KKR then lost Narine and Rahane in quick succession. The pair added 103 runs for the 2nd wicket. Krunal dismissed Rahane in the 11th over, who was caught after attempting a pull. As per ESPNcricinfo, left-arm spinner Krunal has now dismissed Rahane for the 4th time in IPL. Across 10 innings, the batter owns 61 runs from 53 balls at 15.25 (SR: 115.09). Rahane's 56-run knock was laced with six fours and four sixes (SR: 180.65). He has now raced to 4,698 runs from 186 matches (172 innings) in the IPL at 30.30. This was his 31st fifty (100s: 2). Versus RCB, Rahane has surpassed 800 runs (801) at 36.40. This was his 5th fifty versus RCB (100s: 1).