It’s a top-of-the-table clash at Eden Gardens. Kolkata Knight Riders are at No. 1 with six wins in nine matches. Gujarat Lions have an equal number of wins, but have played an extra game and are suffering after three successive defeats.

Lions’ struggles are best exemplified by their last three Powerplay scores – 26 for 3, 35 for 3 and36 for 2. Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum’s failures have added more pressure on a middle order that has yet to fire. And if they were thinking of slotting Aaron Finch back at the top, there is doubt over his fitness again. Finch struck his fourth fifty in six matches in Hyderabad, but did not take the field for the chase.

While Lions have a few key batsmen out of form – Suresh Raina has only one fifty in 10 inningsand Dwayne Bravo has barely been striking at a run a ball – Knight Riders’ depth has served them well.

Gautam Gambhir, who has opened up his stance, and Robin Uthappa have strung five fifty-plus partnerships this season. When they tripped up, against Royal Challengers Bangalore for example, Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan bashed 96 off 44 balls to secure an unlikely victory.

Russell topped that with a breathtaking spell against Kings XI Punjab and with Morne Morkel’s pace and bounce from the other end, Knight Riders have the Powerplay covered.

Squads:

Kolkata Knight Riders (probable): 1 Gautam Gambhir(capt), 2 Robin Uthappa(wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Brad Hogg/Sunil Narine, 10 Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav

Gujarat Lions (probable): 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Suresh Raina(capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik(wk), 5 Aaron Finch/James Faulkner, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Pradeep Sangwan/Ishan Kishan/Shadab Jakati, 9 Praveen Kumar 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Shivil Kaushik