Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders rode on Quinton de Kock's classy 97 not out to cruise to a 8 wicket victory over the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
Chasing 152 could have been tricky but KKR Opener de Kock got stuck in and guided the team to victory.
Here is how the batters went...
Quinton de Kock
It was good to see a wicket that gave the batters a challenge, unlike every other IPL pitch that is flat as an iron board.
So when Rajasthan put on 151 for 9, KKR had an idea of what to expect from the strip while chasing.
The 'home team' came out with a new opening pair of Quinton de Kock and debutant Moeen Ali. While Moeen struggled to get going, de Kock was away from the get go.
He got off the mark with a pull short for a four off Maheesh Theekshana in the 2nd over.
Just that first four was enough to give him confidence, and like always, once he gets stuck in, dismissing him is akin to an improbable task of moving a mountain.
It wasn't the easiest of pitches to bat on but de Kock was in no mood of being tamed. Be it pacer or spinner, de Kock showed bowlers no mercy -- it the ball was there to be hit, it was!
He danced down the track, played the late cuts and pulled the ball with all his might for the desired results. The South African brought up his 50 off 35 balls with a six over deep mid-wicket.
The 30 year old scored 80 percent of his runs on the leg side in this match. Not just the big shots, he even took the singles and twos and scored the winning runs with a six over long on.
Named player of the match, he stayed unbeaten on 97, his innings decorated with 8 fours and 6 sixes.
De Kock is now only the 2nd wicket-keeper with most 90-plus scores (3) in the IPL (K L Rahul has six 90-plus scores in the tournament).
Angrish Raghuvanshi
He was retained by KKR for his timely contributions last season.
And he repaid the faith by playing with maturity when KKR needed someone to bat long with de Kock.
The 20 year old came out to bat at 70 for 2 and was happy to play second fiddle.
Playing the perfect foil, he knocked the ball around for singles and twos while de Kock went hammer and tongs.
When the opportunity came, he hit the odd boundary. He was never rushed nor did he play any rash strokes. He showed immense calm and that No. 4 slot should be his going forward. He remained unbeaten on 22 off 17 balls, with two fours and 2 sixes.
Riyan Parag
The Rajasthan Royals stand-in skipper had some rotten luck at the toss and seemed to have carried that into the match.
Put in to bat, Rajastan lost Sanju Samson early. Then out came Parag at No. 3.
It's interesting to note that Parag, who scored heavily -- 572 runs precisely -- for Rajasthan last season, did so batting at No. 4. So the decision to send him in at No 3 was a mind-boggling one.
He got off the mark with a single before hitting a six off Nitish Rana.
In an attempt to grab as many as possible in the Powerplay, he next hit a six off Vaibhav Arora, a beautiful check drive straight down the ground.
He seemed like he wasn't totally at ease in the middle. He just took singles in the Moeen Ali over before he smashed Varun Chakravarthy for a six in the 8th over.
One ball later, Parag threw his wicket away. He went for a big hoick off a length ball, he got the toe end of the bat and was caught for by de Kock. Chakravarthy got his revenge and he was out for 22 off 15, three sixes coming in his innings.
Dhruv Jurel
The wicket-keeper batter came out to bat at 82 for 5 in the 11th over. With the batters struggling on the demanding Guwahati track, it was up to Jurel to conjure up some magic and help Rajasthan put runs on the board.
He took his time and dealt in singles and twos as he saw off Chakravarthy safely. In the 14th over he made the most of a poor delivery and pulled it for a four!
In the next over, he got lucky twice as his edges flew past de Kock for back-to-back boundaries.
Even as Nitish Rana and Shubham Dubey walked back to the hut, and Shimron Hetmyer struggling to middle one, Jurel upped the ante and hit Harshit Rana for two boundaries in the 17th over.
It got hard for him as the innings progressed and he was dismissed after a fighting 33 off 28 with a strike rate of 117. He helped guide Rajasthan towards the 150-mark.
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