The defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be back in action at the iconic Eden Gardens as they are all set to clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in an Indian Premier League 2025 season opener on Saturday.

Mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, who was the cornerstone of KKR’s success last year, spoke about the franchise building up for the title defense and said if the team is able to crack the code of having the best playing XI performing consistently, then there are great chances ahead in the tournament.

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“The squad looks good. I think it’s about cracking the code and having the best playing XI performing consistently. If we are able to get a set core in the first three matches, then we have great chances ahead in this season.”

Chakaravarthy picked 14 wickets in the five-match T20I series against England and was adjudged the Player of the Series for his stellar bowling performance in January.

Chakaravarthy joined the ODI squad against England and later secured his place in the Champions Trophy squad and formed a deadly spin quartet with Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in India’s triumphant campaign.

The mystery spinner was the second leading wicket-taker in the Champions Trophy with nine scalps to his name in four games. He returned figures of 5-42, the combined best bowling figures in the tournament, in just his second ODI game as India beat New Zealand in their last group game.

“The main thing is working on consistency, which is the toughest thing to master and I’m putting in constant work in order to achieve that. And of course, I’m working on a few other deliveries which I’m hoping will come off nicely in the upcoming games,” said Chakaravarthy.

KKR will be looking forward to adding to the winning streak with wins in the last four consecutive games against RCB. With a favourable 20-14 head-to-head record, the defending champions will be eager to kick off their title defence with a victory.

Reflecting on what that brings the best out of you against RCB, Chakaravarthy said, “Nothing in specific, just the situation of those matches which helped me pick wickets. In all those games the conditions and the situations were completely favourable towards us so I was able to extract the best possible result.”

Stats to watch out for in the season opener:

Vaibhav Arora is 1 wicket away from 50 wickets in T20s.

Sunil Narine is 3 sixes away from 100 sixes in IPL.

Sunil Narine is 2 wickets away from 200 wickets for KKR

Andre Russell is 16 runs away from 2500 runs in IPL.