Quinton de Kock, bowlers steer KKR to maiden win in IPL 2025

After an all-round bowling and fielding performance laid the foundation, a batting masterclass from Quinton de Kock sealed an eight-wicket victory.

All five bowlers used by KKR chipped in with crucial wickets, but spin twins Varun Chakaravarthy (2-17) and Moeen Ali (2-23) were the pick of the attack.

Chasing a modest 152 in a season that has already seen the 230-run mark breached four times in five prior games, De Kock's scintillating unbeaten 61-ball 97, an innings that included eight fours and six sixes, ensured that KKR rushed towards the target in just 17.3 overs.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) produced a complete performance to open their account in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 with a commanding victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati.

After an all-round bowling and fielding performance laid the foundation, a batting masterclass from Quinton de Kock sealed an eight-wicket victory.

All five bowlers used by KKR chipped in with crucial wickets, but spin twins Varun Chakaravarthy (2-17) and Moeen Ali (2-23) were the pick of the attack.

Chasing a modest 152 in a season that has already seen the 230-run mark breached four times in five prior games, De Kock's scintillating unbeaten 61-ball 97, an innings that included eight fours and six sixes, ensured that KKR rushed towards the target in just 17.3 overs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal began proceedings with a boundary after RR were put in to bat by KKR. Jaiswal soon brought up a milestone of 200 fours in the IPL, before smashing a glorious 89m six over the mid-wicket region.

While Vaibhav Arora broke a 33-run opening partnership by uprooting Sanju Samson’s leg stump, Rajasthan’s stand-in captain Riyan Parag kept the momentum going with a quick cameo of 25(15), which included three superb shots for six, one of them being an audacious one-handed smack over deep square leg.

But then came the Moeen Ali & Varun Chakaravarthy show. Ali - on his KKR debut, playing in place of the unwell Sunil Narine - initiated RR’s collapse with Parag’s wicket as Quinton de Kock impressively held onto a skier. Jaiswal was caught in the deep soon after, before the wickets of Wanindu Hasaranga and Nitish Rana followed to leave RR at 82/5 after 11 overs.

Dhruv Jurel put up a lone fight with a 28-ball 33, and coupled with Jofra Archer’s 7-ball 16, the duo kept RR in the game.

However, KKR undoubtedly went into the break as the happier side, restricting RR to 151/9. While Arora and Harshit Rana also chipped in with two wickets each, spells of 2-23 in four overs from Ali and 2-17 in four overs from Charavarthy - with a combined 18 dot balls - were the difference-makers.

Recognising the need for a strong powerplay on a two-paced wicket, De Kock got KKR off to a steady start as they were 40/0 at the six-over mark. RR’s spinners also put a break on the scoring rate and the home side saw the backs of Ali (5 off 12) and KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane (18 off 15) early, but De Kock continued to make merry.

He completed a 35-ball half-century with a six over long-on off Hasaranga before tonking another maximum over mid-wicket off Parag, and KKR raced to 90/2 after 12 overs.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi ensured there were no more hiccups at one end with 22 off 17, while De Kock kept striking the ball sweetly at the other end to take KKR closer to victory.

With just 17 more runs needed off the last three overs, the South African hit a four and two sixes off consecutive legal deliveries from Archer to give KKR a statement victory with 15 deliveries to spare.

KKR jumped up to sixth place on the points table, while RR - with two losses on the bounce - were at the bottom.

Brief Scorecard: Kolkata Knight Riders 153/2 in 17.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 97*, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 22*, Wanindu Hasaranga 1-34) beat Rajasthan Royals 151/9 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 33, Yashasvi Jaiswal 29, Varun Chakaravarthy 2/17, Moeen Ali 2/23) by eight wickets.

(With inputs from iplt20.com)