KS Rathore IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals' mystery man who faced just five balls in his debut season. The 22-year-old wicket-keeper batter from Jaipur walked in against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 23 March 2025, blocked four balls and left the fifth one alone, yet the buzz around the right-hander refuses to die. Drafted for his 800-plus runs in the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at a strike-rate of 172, Rathore’s IPL ledger currently shows 0 runs off 5 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes and an unbeaten highest score of 0*. Those zeros, however, tell only half the story. Behind the numbers is a fearless top-order dasher who hammered 14 sixes in the domestic T20 season and smashed four 50-plus scores while opening for Rajasthan in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara has already earmarked Rathore as a “finisher-explosive” for the 2026 mega-auction, hinting that the youngster will be groomed as Jos Buttler’s long-term opening partner. Rathore’s glovework adds another layer of intrigue; he pouched 17 dismissals in the latest Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the most by any keeper in the competition. With Royals set to play seven home games at the batting-friendly Sawai Mansingh Stadium next year, fantasy managers and data scouts alike are circling 27 March 2026 – Rathore’s probable first home appearance – as the day the “zero” story finally flips into a whirlwind of boundaries.

Quinton de Kock IPL career snapshot: 3309 runs, 134 sixes, 24 fifties and 2 centuries. The left-handed opener has lit up 12 IPL seasons since 2013, smashing 325 boundaries at a blazing strike rate of 134. His highest score of 140* shows the ceiling when he gets going. After stints with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Capitals, RCB and Mumbai Indians, he found rhythm at Lucknow Super Giants where he spent three productive years (2022-24). Ahead of IPL 2025, Kolkata Knight Riders secured his services, banking on his experience of 115 innings at the top. De Kock’s power game is built on clean hitting—134 sixes out of 2469 balls faced—and the ability to convert starts into match-defining knocks, evidenced by 24 half-centuries and two hundreds. His journey from a 2013 debutant with SRH to a seasoned match-winner now wearing KKR purple and gold mirrors his evolution into one of the league’s most consistent run machines.

Note: This overview is partially generated using AI and is based on statistical data. Please verify with official sources for complete accuracy.