Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowling coach Bharat Arun is not concerned about the loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener. Bharat Arun said that there were a few positives for defending champions KKR in the lost encounter as well and backed star all-rounder Andre Russell to do well.
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders are not too worried about their opening match defeat in the Indian Premier League and are hoping to bounce back in their clash against Rajasthan Royals here on Wednesday (March 26, 2025), said bowling coach Bharat Arun. The last time KKR reached Guwahati to go up against RR, the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain. In their previous meeting, Sunil Narine scored a century at Eden Gardens, but it went in vain as Jos Buttler scored an unbeaten ton in the run chase.
Kolkata Knight Riders loses first match to RCB with relatively ease.
Kolkata Knight Riders lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL 2025 opener as their middle-order could not resist the impressive spin bowling of RCB. KKR’s bowling coach Bharat Arun has said that the team is not too worried about the loss .Kolkata Knight Riders are not too worried about their loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League 2025 opener at Eden Gardens, the team’s bowling coach Bharat Arun said as KKR gear up for their second match against Rajasthan Royals.
Kolkata Knight Riders in their first match after a good start made a mockery of it only to reach 174 which RCB chased with relatively ease on the back of fifties of Ex KKR Phil Salt and Virat Kohli to go down by 7 wickets.
There were a lot of positives from first game- Bharat Arun
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders are not too worried about their opening match defeat in the Indian Premier League and are hoping to bounce back in their clash against Rajasthan Royals here on Wednesday, said bowling coach Bharat Arun. The Knight Riders lost by seven wickets against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the tournament opener on March 22 while the Royals were given a 44-run drubbing by Sunrisers Hyderabad the following day.
“As a team, we are not too worried about it (first game). It’s always good to win the first match, you gain the momentum. But there were a lot of positives from the first game, some lessons to be learnt from there,” Arun said at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“Just being game number one can happen, we could have capitalised, we could have got more runs had we not lost wickets towards the end of our batting. Whatever you do there is always an opportunity to bowl better. But this team is not too worried about it, we will learn from what happened in the last game and try to get batter.”
Arun is also not bothered about big hitters Andre Russell and Rinku Singh not contributing much in KKR’s total of 174 for 8, which RCB overhauled with 22 balls remaining.
“Sport is about failing. You fail more often, then you succeed. Of course, champions like Russell, I think it must be weighing in his mind that he failed last game and he is out to prove every single game. We are also hoping that he will really come good in tomorrow’s game.
“Rinku has batted beautifully in the games leading up to the tournament. We are not too worried about his form.”
He also felt that every team in the IPL is well-balanced and the ones which do better in crucial moments of the game will win.
“Every team is batting well, getting and chasing 250-plus scores. You can’t say this team is better than the other team. Every team is evenly balanced, batting and bowling pretty well.
“Teams that snatches those crucial moments at any given point of time is going to win. How challenged you are to snatch those crucial moments of the game is important.
“All teams have some really fantastic batters. There is no point targeting one, we have to look at the whole team and devise a strategy accordingly. Our game plan is to win.”
Asked about the pitch at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, he said,
“We have not had a look at the wicket but it seems good. The conditions are excellent. The outfield looks really good for us, so we hope to have a very good contest.
The two teams are looking for their first points after suffering defeats in their openers. While the Knight Riders lost to RCB, the Royals faced the brunt of the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting might. The two teams now are now set to face each other at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
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