Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) got away by the skin of their teeth in their IPL 2025 encounter against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and kept whatever hopes they had of a top-four finish alive.
KKR elected to bat first but had an extremely ordinary time in the field until Andre Russell (57* off 25) arrived. Russell took all the time in the world to get settled but launched into Maheesh Theekshana and Jofra Archer at the death to push KKR past the 200-run mark.
RR’s chase was rocky as they lost two wickets in the first two overs, and soon after the powerplay, Yashasvi Jaiswal perished trying to force the pace. Varun Chakaravarthy (2/32) then suddenly had RR 71/5 chasing 207. Skipper Riyan Parag (95 off 45) then displayed all his class to turn an increasingly impossible situation on its head. Parag stitched an important partnership with Shimron Hetmyer to keep the chase on. Parag hit five sixes in an over against Moeen Ali at one point as well. Their dismissals seemed to have sealed RR’s fate and, with 19 runs needed off the last four balls, RR were almost definitely down for the count.
Shubham Dubey sent the next three balls for 6, 4, 6 to bring it down to three runs off the last ball. The batsmen only got one, and KKR had won by just one run.
Here are most important numbers from KKR vs RR IPL 2025 clash:
2 – Andre Russell became the second player to aggregate 2,500 runs in the IPL for KKR. Only Gautam Gambhir, with 3,035, has more.
3 – Andre Russell became the third player to score 1,000 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the IPL. Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa are the other two.
4 – Andre Russell’s 91 IPL sixes at Kolkata are the fourth-most by any player at a single stadium in the IPL. Russell started this game as the joint fourth-most with 85 sixes at this ground – the same that Pollard has scored at the Wankhede Stadium.
1 – Moeen Ali’s 32-run over to Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer is the most expensive by a KKR bowler in IPL history. He is also the first KKR bowler to concede more than 30 runs in an over.
5 – Riyan Parag is the fifth batter to hit five sixes in an IPL over. Chris Gayle, Rahul Tewatia, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rinku Singh are the others.
1 – These sixes came across two overs, but Riyan Parag is still the first player to hit sixes off six consecutive balls that he faced in the IPL.
10 – Riyan Parag is the tenth captain to be dismissed in the nineties in the IPL. David Warner is the only player to go through this twice.
4 – Riyan Parag is the fourth RR player to be dismissed in the nineties in the IPL, after Graeme Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, and Jos Buttler.
4 – On the list of the highest individual scores for RR at No. 4 in the IPL, Riyan Parag now has entries ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and joint 4th.
15 – KKR’s win is just the 15th by one run in the IPL. This is KKR’s second win by one run in the league.
3 – There have only been three instances where a target in excess of 200 has been defended by just one run in the IPL. Two of them are by KKR – against RCB last year, and in this match.
3 – This was the third time that RR lost an IPL match by just one run. Only Delhi Capitals have as many, while no other team has more.
India
