Guwahati: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowling coach Bharat Arun had said on the eve of their second match here that Guwahati is like their ‘second’ home. The Knights did feel at home on Wednesday night at Assam Cricket Association Stadium.
A fine bowling performance, led by spin duo Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali’s superb spells, had helped KKR restrict the hosts Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a below-par 151/9 from 20 overs.
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Chasing 152 for their first win of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, the defending champions coasted home to an eight-wicket win with 15 balls to spare. South African wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock led the charge with an unbeaten 97 off 61 balls. He hit eight fours and six sixes in the process.
Youngster Angkrish Raghuvanshi gave him able support from the other end, remaining unbeaten on 22 off 17, as De Kock finished the game with a six over long-on off Jofra Archer, left stranded just three runs from a deserving century.
Earlier, opting to bowl first, the visitors choked the flow of runs in the middle overs thanks to Chakravarthy and Ali’s efforts.
Royals had a good start to their innings as they reached 54/1 in the powerplay. Then came mystery spinner Chakravarthy and Ali. They cast their spell to spin a web around the Royals batting and stemmed the flow of runs to reduce the Royals to 82/5 in 11 overs.
English spinner Ali, making his KKR debut, came in place of an unwell Sunil Narine for a like-for-like replacement and made an instant impact. So did Chakravarthy.
The Barsapara track offered better grip and help to the spinners compared to what the Eden pitch used to traditionally offer. Ali and Chakravarthy scalped two each in the first five overs they bowled together from the seventh to 11th.
While Ali gave only 23 runs from his quota of 4 overs, Chakravarthy had miserly figures of 4-0-17-2. The duo conceded just 40 runs from their eight overs snaring four wickets together. Pacers Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana took two wickets apiece.
Opening pacer Spencer Johnson was the most expensive bowler for the Knights as he gave away 42 runs from his four overs, taking only one wicket in the form of Jofra Archer.
Dhruv Jurel, Royals’ best batter in the last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, was the highest scorer for them against KKR, too, with 33 from 28 balls. Yashasvi Jaiswal got a life but could not capitalise and was caught at long-on by Rana off Ali.
Homeboy Riyan Parag also flattered to deceive. He started by hitting the maximum on the third ball he faced but returned to the pavilion after hitting three over-boundaries in his 15-ball stay for 25 runs to his name. Losing wickets at regular intervals, Royals' innings could never take off in the face of a disciplined KKR bowling attack.
