Virat Kohli and Phil Salt got off to an aggressive start as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) stunned Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 wickets in the opening match of the 18th edition of Indian Premier League cricket.

After they added 95 runs in 9 overs for the first wicket, RCB completed the target of 175 runs by scoring 177 runs in 16.2 overs. Kohli, who is playing his 18th consecutive season for RCB, scored an unbeaten 59 off 36 balls, hitting 4 fours and 3 sixes.

Lim Livingstone remained unbeaten on 15 runs, hitting 2 fours and 1 six off 5 balls. Salt, who played a key role in Kolkata's IPL title last season, scored 56 runs off 31 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes. Devdutt Padikal, who came as an 'Impact Player', was dismissed by Sunil Narine after scoring 10 runs. Captain Rajat Patidar played 16 balls and scored 34 runs with 5 fours and 1 six. 

Ajinkya Rahane, who returned as captain, scored a brilliant half-century but after the brilliant bowling of Krunal Pandye and Jessal Hazlewood, RCB elected to field after winning the toss and stopped Kolkata at a score of 174-8. 

Rahane scored 56 off 31 balls. He hit 6 fours and 4 sixes in Sokram. Even though Quinton de Kock was dismissed for 4 runs, Rahane and Sunil Narine put on a partnership of 103 runs in 61 balls for the second wicket. Narine hit 5 fours and 3 sixes in 26 balls. 

But even though these two were dismissed within 4 balls, RCB was back in the game. Narine was dismissed by Rasik Salam and Rahane by Pandye. In his next over, Pandye bowled Banktes Air for 6 runs. Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored 30 off 22 balls with 2 fours and 1 six and Rinku Singh scored 12 off 10 balls. But Kolkata could only add 67 runs in the last 10 overs and 29 runs in the last 5 overs.