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For the first time since they played the first game of the IPL Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru will start the season. Something special was born that night, 17 years ago. A thirst trap.

A thousand games have come and gone and the fans just can't get enough. Grounds fill up quicker than an international match (Eden's been sold out). The trophy's been taken on tour. Players' arrivals are being clipped out like movie trailers. Virat Kohli charms 29.1 million souls just by bouncing a ball on his bat. The only thing that has grown as rapidly as the IPL is the people's appetite for its singular brand of superstars and mayhem.

KKR and RCB have had some thrilling encounters. There was a one-run victory just last year. And they've propelled this league, and by extension T20 cricket, forward in various ways. Sunil Narine taught the value of opening batters not valuing their wicket. AB de Villiers pointed out that runs can be scored behind the wicket with the same consistency as those in front of it. Andre Russell has been conducting experiments to see if he can hit a ball into outer space for some time now.

All we have to do is just sit back and watch. (And hope the rain stays away.)

Next three fixtures

KKR go on a trip to Guwahati and Mumbai to face Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians before returning home to host Sunrisers Hyderabad.

RCB have a five-day gap before their second game against Chennai Super Kings. Then they go up against Gujarat Titans. That's a lot of high-quality spin for their batters to deal with to begin the season. But once they're through, they'll find themselves at the Wankhede and there's always runs to be had there.

New loyalties

Phil Salt was KKR's second-highest run-scorer in 2024 and he made those 435 runs at a strike rate of 182. His proclivity to hit the boundary first and ask questions later was an important point of difference for a side that scored its runs quicker than anybody else. Salt's gifts are with RCB now.

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Team news & likely XIIs

KKR might not mind losing one half of the opening combination that worked so well last time around considering they were able to bring in a former IPL winner in Quinton de Kock to take over. They will want him to improve on his record at Eden Gardens though (65 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 112). Spencer Johnson or Anrich Nortje will step in for Mitchell Starc, whom the franchise has let go.

Kolkata Knight Riders (probable): 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Ajinkya Rahane (capt) 4 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Varun Chakaravarthy, 11 Spencer Johnson/Anrich Nortje, 12 Vaibhav Arora

RCB have armed themselves with a long batting line-up, which should give them the tools they need to take all the risks they want even against a good bowling attack like KKR. However, their new spinner Suyash Sharma could be a doubt to face his former franchise as he is returning from a long rehab following a groin injury.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Tim David, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Swapnil Singh/Mohit Rathee/Rasikh Salam

Big question

Have RCB made the right choice in elevating Rajat Patidar to the captaincy? They are yet to win an IPL title and the pressure of that now falls squarely on the shoulders of a man who is a fringe player for India and who only came into the franchise in 2021. The people who know him best, though, suggest he will be more than up for the challenge.

In the spotlight: Rinku Singh and Virat Kohli

India have reached new levels of T20 batting since winning the world title. They almost made 300 once, an innings that ended with Rinku Singh sending the last ball for six. He was overlooked for the World Cup but has played 18 of 20 matches since. The IPL was the tournament that put Rinku on the map. What has he got cooking this season?

Until IPL 2024, Virat Kohli tended to play out Varun Chakravarthy and Narine and look for his runs elsewhere. But last year, he decided to take them down. His strike rate against the two KKR mystery spinners went up from 98.56 to 166.66. Although it was only a small sample size (18 balls in one match), it signalled a change in Kohli's outlook. He was willing to take more risks. Will that continue this time around too?

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Key stats

• Varun and Narine's eight overs will likely define the outcome of this game. Their strengths - Varun is a wicket-taker, he had a strike rate of 14.2 last season, and Narine is the banker, he gave away only 6.7 runs an over - line up against an RCB weakness. Five of their top seven, barring Patidar and Jitesh Sharma, have a strike rate below 140 against spin in T20 cricket since 2024. In Liam Livingstone (107) and Tim David's (106) cases, it's barely a run a ball.

• Since top-scoring for KKR in IPL 2024, Narine is averaging 9.05 as a batter across 20 innings with a highest score of 38. Will that prompt a change in the batting order? It's unlikely, but they do have options. Ajinkya Rahane, their new captain, for example, enjoys batting in the powerplay.

• Patidar's elevation to RCB captaincy is based on the value he brought to the team as a middle-overs (7-16) hitter. He scored over 300 runs in this phase last year, at a strike rate of 180.68. His strike rate against spin was even higher (197.24).

• Although RCB have lost Mohammed Siraj, they've brought in the IPL's highest wicket-taker in the powerplay - Bhuvneshwar Kumar with 71. They also have Josh Hazlewood, who has done well in every phase of play in this tournament (14 wickets at an economy rate of 7.4 in the powerplay, eight at 7.7 in the middle and 13 at 10 in the death).

Pitch & conditions

IPL 2024 set a new benchmark for run-scoring and Eden Gardens played a part in that. The conditions there were so conducive to batting that there were six totals of 200 or more, including a successful chase of 262. But putting a dampener on all that fun is a poor weather forecast for the game on Saturday. A steady drizzle on Friday evening brought about an early end to the team's practice session. The practice began as scheduled at 5pm, but rain set in around 6pm, cutting short the prep.