Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Kings XI Punjab in a game between two teams that are somewhat struggling in their advances. Kolkata have two only two of their last six games while Punjab have lost three in their last four. A win here is the need of the hour – especially for the Knight Riders – and it will be an intense battle between two batting-heavy teams.

Kings XI Punjab

Gayle-storm might have won them a few games – and so has KL Rahul’s brilliance – but they alone can’t do anything if the other players don’t chip in with their contribution.

Their bowling has been inconsistent – despite having Andrew Tye and Mujeeb Zadran – and their middle-order has also been wobbly, to the say the least. Winning against Kolkata, however, will consolidate their top four chances, but a loss would endanger it.

Predicted XI: Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Tiwary, Karun Nair, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravi Ashwin, Mujeeb Zadran, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot

Kolkata Knight Riders

After being battered by Mumbai Indians in the last two games, Kolkata Knight Riders find themselves out of the top four and in real danger of losing out on the playoffs. As cliché as it may sound, Kolkata will have to win all of their games from now on and also rely on other results as well to qualify for the playoffs.

The downside for the Knight Riders is that they are losing main players to injuries. Shubman Gill missed the last game due to an injury, Andre Russell and Chris Lynn aren’t 100% yet and will perhaps not be for the rest of tournament. So there is a mountain to climb for the Knight Riders.

Predicted XI: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Tom Curran, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav

Prediction