Kolkata Knight Riders were seen giving glimpses of the season-before’s potency when they dominated Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in Guwahati on 26 March, Wednesday. Following their dull performance earlier in IPL 2025 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kolkata staged a remarkable comeback chasing a very respectable target of 152 from 17.3 overs on a sluggish pitch.
Quinton De Kock stood up to the occasion in the absence of Sunil Narine and powered the team to victory with a brilliant 97 not out off 61 balls for the Kolkata Knight Riders. While the rest of the batting lineup struggled to get their balance amidst bowling-friendly conditions at Barsapara Stadium, De Kock, in a display of wealth of experience and class, nurtured the innings of his team to victory.
In the very last over, he particularly smashed two sixes and a four off Jofra Archer, thus boosting KKR’s Net Run Rate even more. That was the defending champions entering their IPL 2025 season first win, which, in all fairness, gave them two points but more than that should do wonders for the dressing room and the support staff after the lack of color against RCB.
On the other hand, with the defeat, it was back-to-back defeats for Rajasthan. The local favorite Riyan Parag was backed by cheers in the middle, but there was a stark absence of match-winning performances. Rajasthan’s bowling was characterized by lacklustre efforts except for the lone incident of interest when a pitch invader charged onto the field and touched the feet of the local hero and Rajasthan Royal’s player, Riyan Parag.
The spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali formed the base of the win. The debuting Moeen replaced the ill Sunil Narine and made an immediate impact by taking two crucial wickets for just 23 runs in his four overs.
