Watch as KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane performs a worship service prior to the 2025 IPL title defence.

Having won three titles in the lucrative IPL, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are one of the most successful teams in the competition. In 2024, Shreyas Iyer guided the team to a decisive victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the grand finale, earning them their third and most recent IPL crown. However, Iyer was let go in 2025, and veteran hitter Ajinkya Rahane was given the captaincy reins.

Before the season begins in Kolkata on March 22, Rahane has already joined the KKR team.

Actually, most of the team has been working extremely hard to win the championship again in 2025. The players and support staff now performed prayers at their home field, Eden Gardens, as a ceremonial kickoff to their campaign. To commemorate the finest of the beginnings, the squad broke a coconut on the pitch and offered a garland at the wickets, a religious custom.

Star players including Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, and head coach Chandrakant Pandit are among those shown in a video that KKR posted to their social media accounts. They posted the image on ‘X’, the former name for Twitter, with the remark, “Shubho Aarombo,” in Bangla, along with the emojis for “flower” and “Namaste.”

Shubho Aarombo 🙏🌸 pic.twitter.com/2ve1awWZLq

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 12, 2025

On Wednesday, March 12, the Knight Riders held their first-ever training camp at their hometown of Kolkata in preparation for the forthcoming event. Star players Manish Pandey, Quinton de Kock, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, and Anrich Nortje were also observed hitting the nets hard throughout the practice in addition to the players named above.

Speaking of KKR’s itinerary, their tournament opener against opponents Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) is set for Saturday, March 22. The squad will host its 2024 final opponent, Sunrisers Hyderabad, at the Eden Gardens following a few away games against the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati and the Mumbai Indians in Mumbai.

The Lucknow Super Giants (April 06), Gujarat Titans (April 21), Punjab Kings (April 26), Rajasthan (May 04), and Chennai Super Kings (May 07) are their next home games. They will play away games against Bengaluru and SRH in their final league stage matches. In order to compete in the latter rounds of the 2025 edition and, ideally, win the trophy once more, the team will be concentrating on making it to the playoffs.