'A battleground where heroes are made’: SRK and Virat Kohli kick off IPL's Season 18 

Kolkata, March 22 (IANS) Megastar and majority owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders Shah Rukh Khan kicked off the proceedings in the opening ceremony of the 2025 Indian Premier League season at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday. With the Indian Premier League (IPL) now entering its 18th season, the timeless actor, who has the expertise of getting the fans on their feet through his decades of work, addressed the City of Joy ahead of the toss. 

“It comes of age not just as a league but as a movement. A celebration of sport, a festival of passion, a battleground where heroes are made. We are here in the ‘city of joy,’ Kolkata. So let’s ignite this grand spectacle with the same energy, the same madness, with the same love that is the IPL, the greatest cricketing league in the world. Kolkata! Are you ready?” said Shah Rukh.

In typical SRK fashion, the actor sent the crowd into a frenzy while using the reference to one of his movies ‘Pathan’. “Party Pathan ke ghar pe rakhoge toh mehman nawazi ke liye Pathan khud aayega aur patake bhi layega,” he added.

Although the 59-year-old did not perform on the day, he set the stage for singer Shreya Ghosal, actress Disha Patani, and hip-hop artist Karan Aujla for their respective performances that followed.

However, in an unexpected turn of events, SRK returned to the field and introduced the only player to have represented one team through the 18 seasons of the tournament, Virat Kohli, and young gun Rinku Singh to indulge in a ‘Gold vs Bold debate’

"The bold generation is coming up quickly, but the old generation is here to stay," said Kohli.

“We can certainly give them competition,” replied Rinku

Both Rinku and Kohli shared a few laughs and danced alongside the King of Bollywood to end the segment.

Devajit Saikia, BCCI secretary, IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal, BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla, and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, BCCI Treasurer were also invited on stage.

BCCI president Roger Binny presented Kohli with a special IPL Season 18 memento.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are the two teams who will be kicking off the season and interestingly both teams start their campaign under the new leadership, with Ajinkya Rahane captaining Kolkata while Rajat Patidar holding the baton for RCB. Another interesting fact is that these two teams had faced off in the opening match of the inaugural edition.

KKR will be hoping for a strong start to their title defense while the Patidar-led RCB eye to bury past demons this time around. It will also be a spectacular sight for home fans to watch Indian stalwart Virat Kohli in the T20 format for the first time after announcing his retirement from the shortest format of the game following India's triumph in the T20 World Cup last year.

Both teams have squared off 34 times in IPL history, but coincidentally, the two teams played in the opening game of the inaugural edition in 2008, with KKR holding an edge with 20 wins. In the last five games between the two sides, the trend has shifted in Kolkata's favour as they won on four occasions. RCB's last win against KKR came in the IPL 2022 season.