IPL 2025: Who Said What in Match 6 Between the RR and KKR?

The Kolkata Knight Riders achieved their first victory on the IPL 2025 Points Table with to Quinton de Kock’s undefeated knock.

After losing to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their first game of the season, KKR bounced back to win their first game by an eight-wicket margin in their second game. Rajasthan, on the other hand, still aims to finish poorly in the ten-team tournament because they appeared largely incompetent in both games.

Rajasthan didn’t glance at anything during the game, and none of their hitters showed any desire to hold onto the crease and help the team to a higher total. Much praise is also due to KKR’s bowlers, who effectively employed their lengths and precise lines to limit RR to 151-9 at the end of 20 overs in the first innings. In the first innings of the game, which was contested at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati, Dhruv Jurel earned the most points with 33.

Talking Points

1. Riyan, oh!

Riyan Parag, the stand-in captain, demonstrated quite plainly what inexperience can do in a high-stress scenario such as an IPL match. Despite having captained Assam in the local circuit, the player’s leadership style lacked confidence, which ultimately cost RR their second consecutive game of the season. In the forthcoming match against the Chennai Super Kings, Riyan will also be captaining the Royals, and he will undoubtedly want to demonstrate his leadership abilities.

2. The army of KKR attacks the RR batting

After winning the toss, the army lead by Ajinkya Rahane was more than delighted to field first. Both the conditions and the toss went in their advantage. No bowler for Knight Riders went without a wicket. Rahane did not appear to notice Sunil Narine’s absence from the game at all, and Andre Russell, one of the best all-rounders, did not even bowl. RR thus put up a below-par score, which the reigning champs easily overcame.

3. Quinny is well worth the money.

Quinton de Kock, the opener for Kolkata, was the day’s high point. After a subpar performance against RCB, the Proteas cricket player entered the game. But the star batter knew exactly what he was going to do. De Kock assumed responsibility for scoring the most of the goal after a cautious start. In his undefeated 97-run knock, he faced 61 deliveries and hit eight fours and six maximums, including the game-winning long-on.

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.

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.