The IPL 2025 is set to begin on March 22, and one of the teams involved in the opening game will be defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The team will go into the season with a new captain in Ajinkya Rahane while retaining most of their core team that won the title. Gautam Gambhir, the mentor of last season, has also left to become the head coach of Team India. Strengths Kolkata Knight Riders have the strongest spin attack in the competition. Sunil Narine has been enticing batters for the past number of seasons with his mystery spin. On the other hand is the man in form Varun Chakaravarthy, who has now become obe of the best spinners in white-ball cricket at the moment. Hence, these 8 overs will be pretty difficult for the batters to go through. KKR also have perhaps the best lower middle order in the IPL 2025. Rinku Singh, Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh are three of the most fierce hitters in the competition and can score a bulk of runs at the back end of the innings. ALSO READ: IPL 2025 Opening Match In Kolkata In Danger Of Being Washed Out Weaknesses Ajinkya Rahane's credentials as captain are questionable in IPL, even though he has a pretty good record in red-ball cricket. In addition to this, his batting has not been suited to the shortest format of the game, and if he cannot get going, he might be a liab ility to the batting order coming in at no.3. KKR's top-order is also quite questionable. Sunil Narine had Phil Salt in IPL 2024 However, he will be accompanied by either Quinton de Kock or Rahmanullah Gurbaz this time. De Kock has not played enough cricket in the recent past, while Gurbaz is coming on the back of a horrific run of form in the Champions Trophy 2025. Opportunities Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora were the supporting act in the KKR pace attack in IPL 2024, with the attack being led by Mitchell Starc. However, in the absence of Starc, Rana and Arora can become the lead pacers in the side, and establish themselves as leaders of the pack. KKR has entrusted their faith in Venkatesh Iyer as their premier Indian batter in the middle order, and a great season might just push him into the reckoning for the Indian team. Threats Sunil Narine has never had two back-to-back good seasons in the IPL with the bat. Hence, whether he could replicate his IPL 20245 form as an opener remains a question. The absence of a key figure like Gautam Gambhir in the dressing room might also be a reason to worry for the defending champions. KKR Predicted Playing XI For IPL 2025 Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine. Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy Impact Player: Angkrish Raghuvanshi Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from IPL 2025,IPL Orange Cap, IPL Purple Cap, Most Sixes in IPL, Cricket, Sports and around the world.