The Indian Premier League is coming to a close within two days’ time as Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders in the penultimate match of the season. The Sunrisers might have ended at the top of the table but are on a four-match losing streak while Kolkata are on a winning streak of as many games.

If they lose against the Knight Riders, they will be dumped out of the competition, rendering all of their hard work up until now as useless. In their last game against Chennai, they almost won but were let down by some poor batting in hindsight.

Their bowling in the three games prior to the Chennai defeat had been terrible by their standard. In the last game, however, they showed positive signs, something which former India Test opener Aakash Chopra points out in his preview.

'There was one positive for Hyderabad in the last game: their bowling has started firing. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the moment that he starts taking wickets, the team starts looking different. Siddharth Kaul in the last two games has bowled well. Sandeep Sharma was a little expensive but Carlos Brathwaite is a good addition. Rashid Khan defies logic and is a fine bowler and Shakib [Al Hasan] is quite handy.’

Despite showing signs of coming to life, the batting of Sunrisers – in an overall manner – is yet to click fully. Manish Pandey’s indifferent form has been the difference between winning and losing in some games and Aakash Chopra thinks that Deepak Hooda should be brought in to replace him.

'There are a lot of former KKR players in their batting line-up like Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan but their batting is still over-reliant on Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan. So batting is their concern. They should perhaps bring in Deepak Hooda for Manish Pandey.'

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders will take on the pitch at 7.30 pm BDT. The last time these two faced each other at the Eden Gardens, Sunrisers won – and they will be hoping to do the same again tonight.