India, March 22 -- Former India head coach Ravi Shastri could not believe that Royal Challengers Bengaluru started IPL 2025, keeping star bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar out of their playing XI against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In the first match of the 18th season of IPL, Bhuvneshwar Kumar did not find a place in RCB's XI despite captain Rajat Patidar winning the toss and opting to field first. Due to the Impact Player rule, teams fielding first prefer an extra bowler in their XI to provide extra cushion. But not RCB. They picked just four specialist bowlers, with Krunal Pandya and Liam Livingstone as the all-rounders.

Josh Hazlewood led the pace attack, but what surprised Shastri was the selection of Yash Dayal and...