India, April 8 -- 4, 1, 14 - These have been the opening partnerships of Kolkata Knight Riders whenever Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine opened the batting in IPL 2025. In the only match against Rajasthan Royals in which KKR had an opening pair, they scored 41. Moeen Ali partnered de Kock in this match as Narine was unavailable due to a niggle. De Kock single-handedly won that match for KKR by smashing 97 off 61 on a sticky pitch.

The opening stand between Phil Salt and Narine was one of the main reasons behind KKR's title-winning run but this year, the de Kock and Narine opening pair hasn't quite fired yet. It has also forced Ajinkya Rahane, Angrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh and Rinku Singh to bat a step or two lower....