DE KOCK 'KNOW-HOW' COMES TO THE FORE DURING IPL WEEK 1

Week 1 of the Indian Premier League 2025 season has come and gone in the blink of sixes, bigger sixes and even more sixes as bowlers have toiled.

Here are the talking points, from a Betway SA20 player perspective after the first seven days of action.

DE KOCK’S CLASS SHINES THROUGH

After a lean SA20 Season 3 for both himself and his Durban’s Super Giants team, Quinton de Kock has quickly shown at the IPL 2025 how classy he remains.

De Kock, now 32 and playing as a ‘free agent’, could have been excused for taking his time to find his feet at his sixth IPL team in Kolkata Knight Riders but, after carrying his bat with an unbeaten 97 against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday ‘QDK’ allayed any fears.

“To be fair I haven’t felt any challenges [since retiring from international cricket and settling into a new team],” De Kock asserted during his Player of the Match post-match interview.

“I love meeting new people and being around different environments and I’ve played with a lot of the guys in the team in other places around the world so there hasn’t been any challenges. Obviously, it’s just about finding your feet in the team and I’ve been accepted as I’ve walked in which has been awesome and we really have a great bunch of guys at KKR… they’ve made it really easy for me.”

When he came to the crease on Wednesday evening, de Kock already knew how he was going to approach things.

“This is only my second game with KKR, so I was just taking it as a I see it… luckily we ended up batting second so as a ‘keeper I get to watch the wicket and see how the ball is behaving and when I go into bat I can adjust accordingly which is what I did – I just played the situation of the game.”

De Kock described the pitch at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwati as “working man’s wicket” which meant he had to show a bit of patience in his 61-ball innings, which may have contained eights 4s and six 6s but those boundaries had to be earned.

“I know this IPL is known for big scores and big sixes but unfortunately at that point when I was out there was not the time for it but just try to win the game the way I know how to.”

KKR, the defending IPL champions it must be remembered, will be hoping to reap even more rewards from De Kock’s ‘know-how’ during their title defence.

NOOR AHMAD STANDS HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE

Kagiso Rabada lamented the flatness of the IPL pitches following high scoring in the first few matches of the season and his own 1/41 in his Gujarat Titans debut against former team Punjab Kings. Nonetheless, Noor Ahmad – as is his wont – showed why he one of the most sought-after bowlers across the globe.

The Afghanistan spinner claimed 4/18 on his Chennai Super Kings debut in the ‘clasico’ against Mumbai Indians to immediately make him a fan-favourite for those who don yellow. Of the SA20 bowlers, only Maheesh Theekshana (Rajasthan Royals) and Moeen Ali (Kolkata Knight Riders) managed to take multiple wickets suggesting that spin might be the best option to curb the free-hitting in the early stages of IPL 2025.

58% OF SA20 STARS SEE WEEK 1 ACTION

There are 31 SA20 stars signed up to the 10 IPL teams, and 18 (or 58%) of them have got on the field in the first week of the 2025 season. Mumbai Indians, who have the most SA20 players, have used three of their five namely Trent Boult, Will Jacks and IPL first-timer Ryan Rickelton. Punjab Kings, in turn, are the only team to have used all of their SA20 stars in the trio of Marco Jansen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marcus Stoinis.

The afore-mentioned Rickelton is one five of the SA20-signed players who are IPL ‘newbies’, and so far the only one to earn a debut but Matthew Breetzke (Lucknow Super Giants), Corbin Bosch (Mumbai Indians), Wiaan Mulder and Eshan Malinga (both Sunrisers Hyderabad) will be desperate to join him.

TOP SA20 RUN-SCORERS IN IPL 2025

Quinton de Kock (Kolkata Knight Riders) | Total: 101 runs | Best: 97* vs Rajasthan Royals (26/3/2025)

Heinrich Klaasen (Sunrisers Hyderabad) | Total: 60 runs | Best: 34 vs Rajasthan Royals (23/3/2025)

David Miller (Lucknow Super Giants) | Total: 40 runs | Best: 27* vs Delhi Capitals (24/3/2025)

TOP SA20 WICKET-TAKERS IN IPL 2025

Noor Ahmad (Chennai Super Kings) | Total: 4 wickets | Best: 4/18 vs Mumbai Indians

Moeen Ali (Kolkata Knight Riders) | Total: 2 wickets | Best: 2/23 vs Rajasthan Royals (26/3/2025)

Maheesh Theekshana (Rajasthan Royals) | Total: 2 wickets | Best: 2/52 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (23/3/2025)