Why is Bhuvneshwar Kumar not playing KKR vs RCB IPL 2025 match? Check RCB playing XI

In a massive breaking news development, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are not playing senior pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season scheduled against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) being hosted at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Royal Challengers Bangalore did qualify for the playoffs in IPL 2024, but they ended up losing the Eliminator at the hands of Rajasthan Royals (RR). However, a lot has changed for RCB since then as they have a new skipper and a few fresh faces in the squad as well. 

Why is Bhuvneshwar Kumar not playing today's KKR vs RCB IPL 2025 match?

The newly appointed Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and opted to bowl first. However, it was quite surprising that Bhuvneshwar Kumar's name was missing from the RCB playing XI for the tournament opener on Saturday. During the IPL 2025 mega auction, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru bought the experienced Indian pacer at a massive price of INR 10.75 Crore. However, the veteran speedster did not experienced the best of forms in the last edition of the IPL while playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), having picked up just 11 wickets from 16 games at an economy of 9.35. 

While talking about overall Bhuvneshwar Kumar stats in IPL, the right-arm pacer has taken a total of 181 wickets from 176 games at an impressive economy of 7.56. Interestingly, he is not even part of the five substitute players out of which one will be choosen as the Impact Player. RCB are playing the trio of Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam and Yash Dayal as the specialist fast bowlers. RCB have posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Bhuvneshwar has missed out due to a minor injury. 

Captaincy debut - RaPa has already kicked things off on a winning note! 🪙

We'll be chasing first in the season opener! 🤩

Team News - we go with 2 spinners and 3 pacers. Salt, Liam, Tim and Hazlewood fill the overseas quota! 📰

Unfortunately Bhuvi misses out due to a minor… pic.twitter.com/9QMCK5ezY3

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) March 22, 2025

"We have decided to bowl first, the pitch looks hard. Amazing to lead RCB and great opportunity to learn from the great players. We have done proper preparations for the last 10-15 days. I am confused with this impact player. We are going with 3 fast bowlers and 2 spinners," stated RCB captain Rajat Patidar at the toss. 

RCB Playing XI

Virat Kohli, Philip Salt(w), Rajat Patidar(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal. 

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Subs: Devdutt Padikkal, Abhinandan Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh

RCB IPL 2025 Squad

Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (C), Yash Dayal, Liam Livingstone, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chikara, Lungi Ngidi, Mohit Rathee, Abhinandan Singh.