The 27-year-old twisted his right arm awkwardly but seemed to be fine
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had their reputation at stake as they took on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opening clash on Saturday. They are the defending champions and in front of a packed home ground, they set out to defend 175.
Their bowlers didn’t have many chances against the opening pair of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli as the pair blazed their way to 75/0 within just five overs. When a chance came, KKR had to jump at it and allrounder Ramandeep Singh did just that.
The Punjab man covered many yards from deep backward square when pacer Harshit Rana got a top-edge off Kohli in the sixth over.
Ramandeep made it seem like he would get to it, but his momentum was too much as he dived in to take the catch. The ball went through his palms and bounced into his ribs.
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Ramandeep’s follow-through was also too much as his right hand went underneath and twisted awkwardly. The 27-year-old was seen wincing in pain as KKR’s medical team attended to him and it looked all fine.
Fortunately for KKR, the big-hitter walked back to his fielding in a minute or so, closely avoiding a major injury.
KKR missed out on putting up a big total after being asked to bat first by RCB captain Rajat Patidar. Captain Ajinkya Rahane scored a scintillating 56 off 31 balls and added 103 runs in just 46 balls with opener Sunil Narine (44 off 26 balls), taking the score to 107/2 in 10 overs.
But Krunal Pandya (3-29) and Suyash Sharma (1-47) put a wrench in his momentum, reducing the IPL holders to 174/8 in 20 overs.
Kohli and Salt took the confidence provided by their bowlers to lay the foundation for the chase by adding 95 runs in just 8.3 overs. Salt was particularly brutal against Varun Chakravarthy as he carted the spinner for 36 runs from the 11 balls he faced. Salt was dismissed by Varun after scoring 56 off 31 balls, but Kohli got to his 56th fifty by playing some delightful shots besides miscuing that one ball off Rana.
