IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Match 6 - Who Said What?

Quinton de Kock's unbeaten knock ensured Kolkata Knight Riders got their maiden victory on the IPL 2025 Points Table. KKR, after losing their opening game at the hands of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), came back strong in their second game of the season to bag the first win by a margin of eight wickets. Rajasthan, on the other hand, looked pretty clueless in both the games, and as a result of which, they still seek to get off the mark in the ten-team tournament.

Rajasthan looked nowhere in the game, and there was lack of intent from any of their batters to hang on to the crease and take the team to a better total. A lot of credit goes to KKR's bowlers as well, who used their sharp line and lengths to good effect, which helped them restrict RR to 151-9 after the end of 20 overs in the first innings. Dhruv Jurel top-scored with 33 at the in the first innings of the match, played at the Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati.

Talking Points

1. Oh, Riyan!

The stand-in skipper, Riyan Parag, clearly showed what lack of experience can do in a high-pressure situation like an IPL game. Although the player has captained Assam in the domestic circuit, there was a shortage of confidence in his approach as a leader, which eventually costed RR their second-straight game of the season. Riyan will be captaining the Royals in the upcoming game against Chennai Super Kings as well, and would definitely want to prove his leadership mettle.

2. KKR army strikes at RR batting

The Ajinkya Rahane-led army were more than happy to field first after winning the toss. The toss worked in their favour and so did the conditions. None of Knight Riders' bowlers went wicketless. Andre Russell, one of the top all-rounders did not even bowl, and Sunil Narine's absence from the game did not seem to be missed at all by Rahane. As a result, a below par total was put up by RR, which the defending champions chased down comfortably.

3. Quinny, worth every penny

The highlight of the day was Kolkata opener, Quinton de Kock. The Proteas cricketer entered the match after a poor outing in the game against RCB. The ace batter had his intentions clear though. After a watchful start, de Kock took the onus of scoring bulk of the target upon himself. He faced 61 deliveries in his unbeaten knock of 97 runs, and was laced with eight fours and six maximums, including the winning shot over long-on as well.

Also Check: IPL 2025: Best Memes from RR vs KKR, Match 6 – Funniest Reactions & Trolls

Who Said What

Ajinkya Rahane, KKR captain said

The first six overs we bowled really well, and they were one-two wickets down. The middle overs were really crucial, with two spinners and Sunil wasn't well. Moeen got his opportunity and bowled really well. You want your players to be fearless in this format, we have explosive batsmen. Credit to our bowling unit, they're always looking for wickets. Our chat with Moeen was to pick wickets and he did that. We gave Moeen complete freedom (while batting), unfortunately it didn't happen but he had a great day with the ball.

Quinton de Kock, Player of the Match said

Nice to get an opportunity and to make it count. To be fair, I've not felt any challenges yet (having retired from international cricket). Coming back into cricket we had 10 days of camp, practice matches so that made it pretty easy. This is only my second game here, luckily we batted second so as a keeper I got to watch the wicket and I could adjust accordingly while batting. I know the IPL is known for big scores, but I just tried to win the game for us. (Any challenges in a new team?) Nothing, I love meeting new people and new environments, there were no real challenges. This team accepted me as I walked in, they're a great bunch of players. It was not the type of wicket for big scores, the ball was turning and stopping. It wasn't a flat wicket, it was a working man's wicket.

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Riyan Parag, Rajasthan Royals captain said

I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs. The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn't so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs. Last year the team wanted me to bat at No. 4 and I did that, and this time it's No. 3, so I need to be professional about it and I'm ok with it. We take the learnings and try not to repeat and come out against CSK with a fresher mindset.