Quinton de Kock had quite the debut for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2025 IPL season. During a match against the Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday, March 26, he set a new record for KKR that’s sure to be talked about for a while. Chasing a total of 152 runs at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, de Kock put on an unbelievable show, hitting 97 not out off 61 balls. His performance was electric, featuring eight boundaries and six sixes!
Even though he fell just a few runs short of that century, his contribution led KKR to their first win of the season. He hit Jofra Archer for the winning six, steering his team to victory with eight wickets standing and still 15 balls to spare.
With his 97 runs, he broke Manish Pandey’s previous record for the highest score by a KKR player in a run chase. Pandey’s mark was 94 runs from the famous 2014 finals when KKR snagged their second title.
Here’s how the highest scores for KKR in a run chase stack up now:
1. Quinton de Kock: 97* vs Rajasthan Royals in 2025
2. Manish Pandey: 94 vs Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2014
3. Chris Lynn: 93* vs Gujarat Lions in 2017
4. Manvinder Bisla: 92 vs Chennai Super Kings in 2013
5. Gautam Gambhir: 90* vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016
De Kock’s standout performance earned him the Player of the Match award. After the game, he shared his thoughts, mentioning how thrilled he was to make an impact following his retirement from international cricket. “It’s great to get a chance and I wanted to make the most of it, he said during the post-match chat. Honestly, I’ve not faced any challenges yet. I took a nice three-month break, which felt amazing, and then had a solid 10-day prep leading into this season. It’s only my second game here, and I’m just taking it step-by-step. I was happy to bat second this time since I got to read the pitch and see how the ball was behaving.
In the IPL, you usually expect fireworks with big scores and huge sixes, but today wasn’t about that for me; it was just about getting the win. Talking about being part of a new team, I love meeting new people and adjusting to new surroundings. It’s all about finding your place within the squad. Sometimes it takes time for a team to welcome you, but KKR has embraced me right away, which feels great.
When it comes to net run rate calculations, I didn’t think that was important for this game. The pitch was tricky; the ball was turning and not coming onto the bat like we’d hoped. It was definitely a gritty kind of pitch. If there’s a better pitch later on, sure, we can talk about scoring big, but today was just about rolling up our sleeves and winning the match.
