IPL: KKR defeats RR

Kolkata Knight Riders won their first match in IPL-2025, defeating Rajasthan Royals by 8 wickets on Wednesday.

Quinton de Kock's 97 off 61 balls helped Kolkata Knight Riders win the match.

Moeen Ali and Varun Chakraborty from KKR bowled very economically, both took 2-2 wickets each.

KKR chose to bowl at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Rajasthan scored 151 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. Dhruv Jurel scored 33 runs and captain Riyan Parag scored 25 runs from the team. Kolkata achieved the target by losing 2 wickets in 17.3 overs.

Player of the Match

Quinton de Kock batted fast for KKR while chasing the target of 152 runs. Moeen Ali was having a lot of trouble playing against him, but de Kock did not let the pressure increase on his fellow batsmen. He hit 8 fours and 6 sixes on a difficult and slow pitch for batting. De Kock scored 97 runs in just 61 balls and led the team to victory with 15 balls to spare.

Hero of victory

Vaibhav Arora: Vaibhav bowled brilliantly with the new ball and got the first wicket for the team. He bowled Sanju Samson. Then finally got Shubham Dubey caught.

Moeen Ali: Moeen, who came to play the match in place of Sunil Narine, gave only 23 runs in 4 overs of bowling. He also took 2 big wickets of Nitish Rana and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Varun Chakraborty: KKR's mystery spinner Varun took 2 wickets for just 17 runs. He sent Rajasthan captain Riyan Parag and Vanindu Hasaranga to the pavilion.

Fighter of the Match

Captain Riyan Parag was the only one from Rajasthan who showed fight. He hit 3 sixes on the slow pitch and scored 25 runs in just 15 balls. Then he gave only 25 runs in 4 overs of bowling. Although he did not get any wicket, he tried his best to put pressure on the KKR batsmen.