RR vs KKR, IPL 2025: Who Was The Unsung Hero in Kolkata Knight Riders' Impressive Win Over Rajasthan Royals?

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RR vs KKR unsung hero: Vaibhav Arora may have not got all the plaudits during Kolkata Knight Riders' first win of the IPL 2025 season, but the young pacer claimed crucial wickets in the match against Rajasthan Royals on Wednsday (March 26) in Guwahati.

KKR rode on Quinton de Kock's unbeaten fifty to seal their first win of the season after the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali helped restrict Rajasthan Royals to 151/9 in their alloted 20 overs at the Barsapara Stadium.

After Chakravarthy (2/17) and Moeen (2/23) stifled Rajasthan Royals run-flow, De Kock smashed 97 not out off 61 balls and shared an 83-run stand with Angkrish Raghuvanshi (22* off 17 balls) to take KKR home with 8 wickets and 2.3 overs to spare.

Chakravarthy and Moeen spun into action only after Vaibhav had sent the nominated captain of RR, Sanju Samson back into the dug out in the fourth over and helped KKR get the upper hand in the contest in the powerplay.

Samson and Jaiswal had given RR a fast start until a spectacular delivery from Arora castled the former. It was full and angling in delivery that caught out Samson inside the powerplay.

Samson marched forward to make connection with the ball but failed to connect it and was beaten all ends up, clean bowled and sent back to the pavilion for just 13 runs. Samson looked in good touch, hitting two boundaries.

Arora, however, set him up perfectly to bowl a fullish delivery to get KKR their first wicket. Post the dismissal, KKR spinners had their say and even forced RR into using Shubam Dubey as an impact substitute.

The Impact Sub also made very little impact as Dubey was sent back to dug out for 9 off 12 balls. And it was once again Arora, who did the damage as he got the RR batter holing out ot Andre Russell at Deep Backward point.

Arora's contributions went unnoticed and deserves all the applause as he removed one of the most dangerous batters in the RR line up in Samson and also dismissed his substitute in Dubey in the 15th over.