Quinton de Kock Shines as Kolkata Knight Riders Crush Rajasthan Royals

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured a victory with eight wickets against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati during the sixth IPL 2025 game on March 26th 2025. The win was conclusively recorded in De Kock's bat through his 97-run knock which ended with 61 deliveries to help KKR defeat RR by eight wickets and secure their first victory of the season with 15 balls remaining.

KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane made the critical decision to choose fielding first after winning the toss during their match against Rajasthan Royals on the slow wicket. Early in the match Vaibhav Arora eliminated Sanju Samson to become RR's first dismissive catch for 13 runs. Varun Chakaravarthy and Moeen Ali led KKR to victory against RR by employing their spin to effectively dispose of the batters during the game. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 29 runs as Riyan Parag contributed an additional 25 when he led RR as their captain. A match-up between Varun Chakaravarthy (2/17) and Moeen Ali (2/23) worked perfectly in the conditions to help RR lose five wickets. RR managed a total of 151/9 after Dhruv Jurel scored 33 runs off 28 balls but the team lost their control as wicket-keeper Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana both claimed two victims each.

De Kock stabilized KKR's innings after Moeen Ali's premature run-out as he smashed an impressive 97 against RR. With Rahane (18) as his partner he played a stabilizing role while subsequently slamming numerous boundaries. His 97 run inning included eight boundaries and six massive sixes with the most powerful hits dedicated to his defeat of Jofra Archer to finish the match in the 18th over. Angkrish Raghuvanshi (22) offered important assistance to complete the run with ease.

The defending champions achieved their first victory following their earlier loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru. RR suffered their second defeat in a row which showed that their batting order and bowling performance need improvement. The outstanding performance of De Kock delivered two important match points to KKR while displaying their ambition to defend their IPL 2025 championship title.