Unsettled Knight Riders look to arrest slide against confident Royals

What has clicked for Kolkata Knight Riders this season? Their retained, upcoming batter Venkatesh Iyer? Nope. What about the million-dollar buy Pat Cummins, and the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who too was not let go? Well, both have been dropped. So has Ajinkya Rahane, as Knight Riders have tried five different opening pairs - and four in their last four games - including shunting Venkatesh from the top to the middle and then back up.

Amidst all this, Andre Russell has become undroppable despite blowing hot and cold. In a nutshell, three of their four retained picks have underperformed. Captain Shreyas Iyer and the experienced Umesh Yadav have been their side's driving forces, with Knight Riders missing an outstanding contributor. They started the season with three wins out of four, before tumbling off the cliff with five defeats in a row, the only side other than Mumbai Indians with the unwanted distinction this IPL.

At eighth in the points table, the only way for them is to climb up. Perhaps some inspiration from their remarkable turnaround last season will do, when they went from second-last in the table to being eventual runners-up.

Over to Rajasthan Royals now, who will be seeking some consistency from the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, some stability from their captain Sanju Samson and some solid contributions from opener Devdutt Padikkal. Their batting has been carried all along by Jos Buttler, who leads the tournament's run-making charts, while Yuzvendra Chahal sits atop the wicket-takers' list.

Royals have had quiet performers in R Ashwin, who has played pinch-hitter with the bat too, Prasidh Krishna and the rising Kuldeep Sen, whose performances should further get highlighted considering the bowlers have successfully defended totals six times, exactly the number of wins Royals have after nine matches.

But they still need to be wary: after all, they are yet to win a game while chasing; their flow of a hat-trick of wins was interrupted by a loss to Mumbai on Saturday; and they are second on the table only by virtue of better net run rate over Lucknow Super Giants. However, two points against Knight Riders, and they can feel a bit more secure with just four matches to play after that.

Likely XIs

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Trent Boult, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Kuldeep Sen

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Sunil Narine, 6 B Indrajith (wk), 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Andre Russell, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Harshit Rana

But never mind the problem, as Sunil Narine brings the solution - and not just against Buttler, but also against his partner Padikkal. Buttler has struggled to get going off Narine, managing just 29 runs from 27 balls with two dismissals. Bothering even Padikkal, Narine has got him once - including in the teams' last meeting - in eight balls, with Padikkal facing four dots out of those despite otherwise getting nine runs. So don't be surprised if Narine starts with the ball from one end.

Narine has bashed Ashwin for 60 off 22 balls in the format with only one dismissal; Nitish Rana hasn't given his wicket away while scoring 76 off 38; Finch has hit Ashwin at a strike rate of 168 despite three wickets; Shreyas, although relatively going easier with 72 off 55, hasn't fallen to Ashwin either. Hence, Royals may keep Ashwin's overs for the later stages, especially if Venkatesh and Russell both play as finishers.