Eden Gardens to decide who finishes No. 1

Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians
Kolkata, May 13, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Overall: With a 14-5 record, Mumbai Indians have owned this fixture. Their 14 wins are the joint-most by a team against any opponent in the IPL. Mumbai have also won their last four games against Knight Riders. At Eden Gardens, Mumbai have a 5-2 record.

This season: A spectacular finish, in which 61 runs were scored off the last four overs, had Mumbai overhaul Knight Riders' total of 178 off the penultimate ball.

Shakib Al Hasan won't be part of the rest of Knight Riders' season, having joined Bangladesh's squad for their tri-series in Ireland. Nathan Coulter-Nile, who suffered a blow on his helmet grille against Rising Pune Supergiant, has been ruled out of this game. Suryakumar Yadav was hit on the back of the head during a batting drill and may not be available for selection.

Chris Woakes, for Knight Riders, and Jos Buttler, for Mumbai, won't be part of the playoffs - heading off on England duty - but are available for this game.

Mumbai qualified for the playoffs a while ago. A win against Knight Riders will mean they finish the round-robin stage at No. 1. Given their superior net run rate, even a loss here is highly likely to have them finish in a coveted top-two spot.

Rising Pune Supergiant's loss to Delhi Daredevils on Friday has all but secured Knight Riders' playoff spot. Given their net-run-rate advantage over the next three teams - Pune, Sunrisers and Kings XI - there is only the slimmest of mathematical chances of them missing out, and that is highly unlikely to come about.

Instead, KKR's focus will be on finishing in the top two. If they beat Mumbai, depending on the margin of victory, they could top the table. If they lose, to finish in the top two they will need Sunrisers and Pune to lose their final games.

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Chris Lynn, 3 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 4 Robin Uthappa (wk), 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Ankit Rajpoot

Mumbai Indians: 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Rohit Sharma (capt), 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Karn Sharma, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Despite Knight Riders' loss against Kings XI Punjab, sticking with the Lynn-Narine combination at the top may not be a bad idea, given how ruthless they have been in the Powerplay overs.

But there may be a case for Robin Uthappa at No. 3 - instead of Gambhir - if Knight Riders lose a wicket early. Uthappa enjoys the Powerplay overs and scores at a strike-rate (135.90) higher than his captain (123.50). Besides, Gambhir, an excellent player of spin, can negate the strength of Mumbai's spinners, Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma, in the middle overs.