Quinton de Kock played a magnificent unbeaten 97-runs knock to make the 152-run chase a cakewalk for the Kolkata Knight Riders as they won the match by 8 wickets to open their account on the points table.
Varun Chakaravarthy and Moeen Ali showed their class with the ball as Kolkata Knight Riders restricted Rajasthan Royals to 151/9. Dhruv Jurel was the highest run-getter for the Royals with his 33-run knock. While Varun, Moeen, Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora shared two wickets each for the Knight Riders in Guwahati.
Chakaravarthy returned to his best and claimed the crucial wicket of Riyan Parag for 25 to open his account. The local boy looked solid, but he failed to convert the start to a big score in Guwahati. Vaibhav Arora hit the timber and sent Sanju Samson back in the pavilion for 13. The swashbuckling opener looked to break the shackles but failed to get anything on the ball. Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati.
Quinton de Kock, Player of the Match: Nice to get my opportunity, wanted to make it count. (On post International retirement challenges) To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet. Have had 3 months off which felt nice. Had about a 10 day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it. Luckily, we batted second so I could watch the wicket, see how the ball was behaving. Just played the situation of the game. The IPL is known for big sixes and big scores, but that wasn’t the moment for me. It was just about winning it the way I know it. (On new franchise) I love meeting new people, being in new environments. It is about finding your feet within the team. Sometimes the team accepts you later, but here with KKR they have accepted me already with open arms, so it feels good. (On whether NRR was a conversation) Not the type of wicket for that kind of game, the ball was turning and stopping. It