April 18, 2008. M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
It was the very first match in IPL history. Not just in this rivalry in the entire Indian Premier League.
Brendon McCullum walked to the crease and scored 158 not out off 73 balls.
In the first ever IPL match played anywhere in the world, the rivalry between RCB and KKR launched with the most explosive individual batting performance cricket’s shortest format had ever seen. McCullum’s innings 73 balls, 10 sixes, 13 fours, strike rate 216.43. Set the blueprint for what T20 batting could be.
That is how the Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Kolkata Knight Riders story began. Eighteen years, 36 matches, and one 1-run thriller later the rivalry is still producing moments that the IPL cannot replicate.
Here is the complete timeline. Every season. Every turning point. Every match that mattered.
Head-to-Head at a Glance: All 36 Matches
KKR 20 Wins vs RCB 15 Wins (1 Abandoned)
KKR’s 7 Season Sweeps: The Most Important Structural Stat
| Team | Season Sweeps (won both matches) | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| KKR | 7 | 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2023, 2024 |
| RCB | 4 | 2009, 2011, 2015, 2020 |
When KKR gain momentum against RCB in any given IPL season, they tend to win both meetings. They have done it 7 times. RCB have done it only 4 times. In a rivalry that spans 36 matches, KKR’s ability to dominate RCB for an entire season not just one match is structural, not coincidental.
KKR and RCB results vary match to match. In 11 of 18 IPL seasons, one team has dominated both meetings and KKR have been that dominant team nearly twice as often as RCB. If KKR win the first meeting in any IPL season, history says they are 70%+ likely to win the second one too.
2008 IPL Opener: The Night This Rivalry Was Born (And the IPL Was Too)
Brendon McCullum 158* off 73 Balls: The Innings That Launched the IPL
April 18, 2008. M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Match 1: the very first IPL match ever played.
Brendon McCullum came in to open the batting for KKR in the first over of a new format in cricket history. By the time he was done, he had scored 158 not out off 73 balls.
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KKR: 222/3. RCB: 82 all out. KKR won by 140 runs.
Player of the Match: Brendon McCullum.
Turning point and it happened in the first six overs: McCullum attacked immediately. By the time KKR hit the powerplay, the RCB bowling attack had no plan to contain him. He moved from 0 to 50 in fewer than 20 balls and never slowed down. The Chinnaswamy crowd assembled to watch a new format they had never seen watched a New Zealand opener rewrite the definition of T20 batting in real time.
McCullum’s 158* in IPL 2008 is not just the founding moment of the RCB vs KKR rivalry. It is the founding performance of the IPL itself. Every subsequent T20 innings that referenced “batting at 200 strike rate” was measured against what McCullum did that evening. It set a standard. The rivalry between these two teams began with the most consequential single batting performance in IPL history. That is not an accident it is legacy.
2009–2011: RCB’s Era of Counter-Dominance
2009: RCB won both meetings. Chris Gayle’s early seasons at RCB paired with Kallis and Sehwag gave RCB batting power that outscored KKR’s bowling resources.
2011: RCB won both meetings again. The Chinnaswamy pitch in 2011 was batting-friendly, and RCB’s home advantage combined with their then-second-strongest batting unit made them the dominant side.
RCB’s strength in this rivalry has always been Chinnaswamy. Their 4 season sweeps 2009, 2011, 2015, 2020 all correspond to seasons where their batting depth at home was superior and their bowling found wicket-taking rhythm.
2012–2016: KKR Assert Their Eden Gardens Fortress
2012: KKR’s First Title Season. Clean Sweep Against RCB
KKR won the IPL 2012 title. In both meetings against RCB that season, KKR won convincingly. Sunil Narine’s debut season in IPL cricket gave KKR a mystery bowling weapon that RCB’s batters who liked pace had no plan for.
KKR’s Eden Gardens advantage in this rivalry crystallised in 2012. Eden Gardens is a high-pressure, high-crowd ground where chasing teams struggle. RCB’s batting in 2012 at Eden Gardens was visibly affected by the crowd noise and KKR’s home bowling combinations (Narine + Lee). The fortress dynamic was established here.
2014: KKR Second Title Season Clean Sweep Again
KKR won the IPL 2014 title. They also swept both meetings with RCB in the same season.
KKR’s 2014 and 2012 IPL title-winning seasons both produced clean sweeps over RCB. When KKR win the IPL, they beat RCB both times. That correlation is not coincidental in their peak seasons, KKR’s team balance (Narine bowling, Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan batting) matched up precisely against RCB’s attack.
2017: RCB’s Darkest Hour. 49 All Out at Eden Gardens
Sunil Narine 5/19: The Most Dominant Bowling in This Rivalry’s History
May 2017. Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
RCB came in to bat. They were bowled out for 49 runs in 8.1 overs.
RCB’s batting order which included Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers was destroyed in 8 overs.
KKR chased 50 in 6.1 overs. KKR won by 82 runs.
49 all out remains RCB’s lowest ever IPL score: against any opponent.
The Eden Gardens surface in May 2017 offered turn from ball one. Narine’s mystery spin off-breaks with carrom ball variations was unreadable on that surface. RCB’s batters, conditioned to play against pace at Chinnaswamy, had no tempo adjustment plan. Kohli fell for a low score. AB de Villiers fell for a low score. 49 runs off 49 deliveries. That is what Eden Gardens does to unprepared batting orders.
49 all out at Eden Gardens in 2017 is the single lowest point in RCB’s rivalry history with KKR and arguably the single most embarrassing result in RCB’s entire IPL existence. Being bowled out for 49 by a Narine-Kuldeep spin combination, with Kohli and ABD in the lineup, exposed a fundamental flaw in RCB’s approach to touring grounds: they prepared to bat but did not prepare for mystery spin in Eden Gardens conditions. No other IPL team has bowled RCB out for under 80 in any season.
KKR Season Sweep No. 4 in 2017
KKR won both meetings in IPL 2017. Combined: they won the two matches by a combined margin of 103 runs.
2018–2022: KKR’s Sustained Advantage
2020: RCB Win Both. The Year KKR Were Bowled Out for 84
IPL 2020 was held in UAE. RCB won both meetings their last season sweep against KKR.
RCB bowled KKR out for 84 in 14.3 overs KKR’s lowest score against RCB in IPL history. Navdeep Saini’s swing and Chris Morris’s pace dismantled KKR’s batting on the slow Abu Dhabi/Dubai surfaces.
KKR’s 84 all out in 2020 and RCB’s 49 all out in 2017 are the rivalry’s two catastrophic batting collapses. In both cases, the team that collapsed was batting away from home on an unfamiliar surface. Both collapses came against spin Narine’s vs RCB, and RCB’s spinners vs KKR at neutral venues. Away-from-home batting fragility on unfamiliar pitches is the most consistent weakness in both teams’ approach to this rivalry.
2021: UAE Again KKR Hold the Edge
KKR won the crucial meeting in IPL 2021’s second leg (played in UAE after COVID postponement), winning by 9 wickets at Sharjah their biggest T20I-format win in this rivalry by wickets.
2023: KKR’s Most Dominant Modern Season Against RCB
April 6, 2023 (Eden Gardens): KKR Won by 81 Runs
KKR 200/7 vs RCB 123 all out. KKR won by 77 runs.
Rinku Singh’s 58* off 35 balls and Jason Roy’s 45 put KKR above 200. Varun Chakravarthy’s 3 wickets and Shardul Thakur’s 2 wickets bowled RCB out cheaply.
April 26, 2023 (Chinnaswamy): KKR Won by 21 Runs
KKR 200/5 vs RCB 179/8. KKR won by 21 runs.
RCB chased 201 at their home ground Chinnaswamy, where they are usually at their strongest and failed by 21 runs. KKR scored 200+ twice in one IPL season against RCB and won both matches.
KKR’s 7th season sweep against RCB: at this point the most by any IPL team against any opponent in 5 consecutive season-meetings.
2024: The Most Dramatic Match. 1-Run Thriller at Eden Gardens
KKR 222/6 vs RCB 221: KKR Won by 1 Run (April 21, 2024)
April 21, 2024. Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The rivalry’s greatest match.
| Team | Score | Key Performers |
|---|---|---|
| KKR | 222/6 (20 ov) | Phil Salt 48 off 14, Shreyas Iyer 50 off 36, Andre Russell 27 off 20 |
| RCB | 221/10 (20 ov) | Will Jacks 55 off 32, Rajat Patidar 52 off 23, Karn Sharma 20 off 7 |
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Player of the Match: Andre Russell.
Phil Salt 48 off 14 Balls: The Match Turned in the Powerplay
KKR’s opening powerplay was the fastest in IPL 2024 history at that point. Phil Salt scored 48 off just 14 balls a strike rate of 342.86.
In KKR’s first 5 overs, they scored 56 runs. RCB’s bowlers had no answer in the powerplay to Salt’s clean hitting on a flat Eden Gardens surface.
Andre Russell 3/25 in Overs 18–20: The Decisive Bowling Shift
RCB needed 34 runs off the last 12 balls. They had 4 wickets remaining. Will Jacks was on 55.
Andre Russell came on to bowl. In three overs 17.2, 18, and 19 he dismissed Jacks (caught), then Patidar (caught at long-on), then Dinesh Karthik (LBW).
Three wickets. 34 runs needed. Became 12 needed off 6 balls with No. 9 and No. 10 at the crease.
The 2024 Eden Gardens thriller was won and lost in Russell’s three-over bowling spell. RCB’s batting order had the firepower 221 from 20 overs shows they nearly succeeded. But RCB’s tail (Karn Sharma, Siraj, Ferguson) could not score 12 off 6 balls. When the last wicket fell on ball 120, RCB were 221. One run short of the highest successful chase in this rivalry’s history.
The 2024 Eden Gardens 1-run match (444 runs in 40 overs — KKR 222, RCB 221) is the highest-scoring match in the entire RCB vs KKR rivalry. It was also won by the minimum possible margin. 444 runs from 40 overs average of 11.1 per over across the entire match and the result came down to 1 run off the last delivery. Cricket does not produce moments like this without two genuinely evenly matched batting lineups.
KKR’s 8th Season Sweep Across Full Career (Including March 29, 2024)
March 29, 2024 (Chinnaswamy): KKR beat RCB by 7 wickets (RCB 182/6, KKR 186/3 in 16.5 ov).
KKR won both IPL 2024 meetings against RCB their 7th season sweep overall. KKR went on to win the IPL 2024 title their third IPL championship.
2025: RCB’s Most Important Win Beating the Defending Champions on Opening Night
IPL 2025 Match 1 (March 22, Eden Gardens): KKR 174/8 vs RCB 177/3, RCB Won by 7 Wickets
March 22, 2025. Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Match 1 of IPL 2025: defending champions KKR host RCB.
RCB knocked out the IPL 2024 defending champions in the first match of IPL 2025 at Eden Gardens with 22 balls to spare.
Phil Salt 55 off 26 + Kohli 59* off 36. The 95-Run Stand That Dismantled KKR
Phil Salt (55 off 26 balls) opened alongside Virat Kohli. The two put on a 95-run partnership before Salt departed RCB’s second-highest powerplay score of all time.
Kohli was unbeaten on 59 off 36 when the match ended in the 17th over.
Liam Livingstone hit the winning boundary through midwicket RCB had won the 2025 IPL opener at Eden Gardens against the defending champions.
Josh Hazlewood and Krunal Pandya were the standout bowlers, restricting KKR’s powerful batting unit to 174/8.
RCB’s 7-wicket win at Eden Gardens in IPL 2025’s opening match is the most psychologically impactful result in this rivalry since McCullum’s 158* in 2008 and the fact that it happened on the exact same ground, in the exact same fixture slot (Match 1 of the season), is the kind of circular narrative that cricket produces once a decade. KKR launched the IPL by humiliating RCB at Eden Gardens in 2008. RCB returned the favour by humiliating the defending champions at Eden Gardens in the first match of 2025.
IPL 2025 Match 58 (May 17, 2025. Chinnaswamy): ABANDONED. 1 Point Each
Match 58. RCB’s home fixture against KKR was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Both teams received 1 point. With this result, RCB moved atop the IPL 2025 points table with 17 points from 12 games. KKR, with 12 points from 13 games, were eliminated from playoff contention.
KKR’s 2025 season ended without a second chance against RCB. The IPL 2025 RCB-KKR ledger: RCB won the only match played, KKR eliminated from playoffs. After winning the title in 2024, KKR’s 2025 campaign ended with a first-match loss to RCB and a playoff exit confirmed by a rain abandonment.
IPL 2026: What’s Next (Match 57, May 13, 2026, Raipur)
RCB vs KKR, Match 57, IPL 2026. May 13, 2026 at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur. 7:30 PM IST.
IPL 2026 RCB Squad (Confirmed)
Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Jacob Bethell, Krunal Pandya (c), Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Dar Murtaza, Devdutt Padikkal, Mangesh Yadav, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Yash Dayal, Vicky Ostwal, Jordan Cox, Jacob Duffy, Swapnil Singh, Venkatesh Iyer.
RCB’s form going into Match 57: RCB lost to Rajasthan Royals in a recent IPL 2026 fixture (Sooryavanshi 78 off 26, Dhruv Jurel 81* in the chase). Their bowling has been exposed by young power-hitters.
IPL 2026 KKR Squad and Status
KKR enter Match 57 with 12 points from 13 games making this match critical for playoff qualification. Their batting lineup Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell remains one of the IPL’s most dangerous.
Who holds the advantage at a neutral venue (Raipur)? Raipur’s Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium is not a regular IPL venue both teams will be equally unfamiliar. Flat pitch, fast outfield, and dew in the evening session tend to favour the chasing side. Expect the toss to matter enormously.
Complete Season-by-Season Table (2008–2026
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5 Performances That Define This Rivalry
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: What is the head-to-head record between RCB and KKR in IPL?
Ans. KKR lead RCB 20–15 from 36 IPL matches, with 1 match abandoned without a ball bowled (IPL 2025 Match 58).
Q2: What was Brendon McCullum’s score in IPL’s first-ever match?
Ans. Brendon McCullum scored 158* off 73 balls (13 fours, 10 sixes, SR 216.43) for KKR against RCB at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 18, 2008 — the first-ever IPL match. KKR 222/3, RCB 82 all out. KKR won by 140 runs.
Q3: What is RCB’s lowest score against KKR in IPL?
Ans. RCB’s lowest score against KKR is 49 all out at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in IPL 2017. Sunil Narine took 5/19. RCB were bowled out in 8.1 overs. It remains RCB’s lowest-ever IPL innings total against any opponent.
Q4: What happened in the KKR vs RCB 1-run match in IPL 2024?
Ans. KKR beat RCB by 1 run at Eden Gardens on April 21, 2024. KKR scored 222/6 (Phil Salt 48 off 14 balls). RCB chased and scored 221 all out — falling 1 run short. Andre Russell took 3/25 in the death overs when RCB needed 34 off 12. Player of the Match: Andre Russell.
Q5: What was the IPL 2025 result between KKR and RCB?
Ans. RCB beat KKR by 7 wickets in IPL 2025 Match 1 at Eden Gardens (March 22, 2025) — KKR 174/8, RCB 177/3 in 16.2 overs. Phil Salt scored 55 off 26, Virat Kohli 59* off 36. The second match (Match 58, May 17, 2025, Chinnaswamy) was abandoned without a ball — both teams received 1 point.
Q6: How many times has KKR swept both IPL season meetings with RCB?
Ans. KKR have won both IPL season matches against RCB in 7 seasons: 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2023, and 2024. RCB have swept both meetings in 4 seasons: 2009, 2011, 2015, and 2020.
Q7: What is the highest-scoring match between RCB and KKR in IPL?
Ans. The highest-scoring match is IPL 2024, April 21, at Eden Gardens — KKR 222/6 + RCB 221 = 443 total runs in 40 overs. KKR won by 1 run.