Indian Premier League 2025 Match 6: De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL

South Africa's Quinton de Kock struck an unbeaten 97 as holders Kolkata Knight Riders registered their first win of the IPL season with an eight-wicket hammering of Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.

Match Summary

Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Match 6

Rajasthan Royals 151/9 (20 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders 153/2 (17.3 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders won by 8 wickets

SCORECARD

Match Analysis

Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.

De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.

He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.

De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.

Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.

Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan's regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.

Chakravarthy, who starred in India's recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.

Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.

The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.

Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel's 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.

Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.

Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.

Quinton making his mark in #TATAIPL2025 ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/Xcejmk2v9i

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 26, 2025

Match Stats

Rajasthan Royals Fall of wickets: 1-33 (Sanju Samson - 3.5 ov), 2-67 (Riyan Parag - 7.5 ov), 3-69 (Yashasvi Jaiswal - 8.4 ov), 4-76 (Wanindu Hasaranga - 9.5 ov), 5-82 (Nitish Rana - 10.6 ov), 6-110 (Shubham Dubey - 14.6 ov), 7-131 (Dhruv Jurel - 18.1 ov), 8-138 (Shimron Hetmyer - 18.6 ov), 9-149 (Jofra Archer - 19.5 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Moeen Ali - 6.1 ov), 2-70 (Ajinkya Rahane - 10.1 ov)

Playing XI

Rajasthan Royals

• Yashasvi Jaiswal
• Sanju Samson
• Riyan Parag(C)
• Nitish Rana
• Dhruv Jurel(WK)
• Shimron Hetmyer
• Wanindu Hasaranga
• Jofra Archer
• Maheesh Theekshana
• Tushar Deshpande
• Sandeep Sharma

Kolkata Knight Riders

• Quinton De Kock(WK)
• Venkatesh Iyer
• Ajinkya Rahane(C)
• Rinku Singh
• Moeen Ali
• Andre Russell
• Ramandeep Singh
• Spencer Johnson
• Vaibhav Arora
• Harshit Rana
• Varun Chakaravarthy

Match Details

Date - 2025-03-26 14:00:00

Venue - Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati

Toss - Kolkata Knight Riders elected to bowl

Umpires - Akshay Totre (India), Rohan Pandit (India), Adrian Holdstock(South Africa TV)

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