Kolkata Knight Riders will be desperate to pick up a win against the Kings XI Punjab when the two sides meet in an IPL 2013 match at Eden Gardens Friday.
The defending champions KKR are in serious trouble of missing out on the playoff spots, having lost five of their seven matches so far in the tournament, making this a must-win game for them.
Kings XI have shown good form in this tournament, and are currently fifth in the standings with eight points, with the Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians also holding a similar record after seven games.
The Punjab side pulled off a thrilling four-run victory over KKR in the reverse fixture in Mohali, overcoming a hat-trick from Sunil Narine, with the bowlers coming to the fore after Gautam Gambhir and Eoin Morgan has seemingly taken KKR on their way to an easy victory.
Kings XI coach Darren Lehmann is hopeful of making it two out of two against KKR, with a win away from home.
"We managed to get across the line against KKR the last time at home," Lehmann told reporters. "But they are a very good side, tough to beat at their own backyard and we will have to play better than what we have done in the tournament.
"KKR should have won the last couple of games, and I suppose they lost them in the last moment. That is the nature of T20, but we will hope we get going."
Lehmann confirmed opener Shaun Marsh would not be available for the game, while retaining his faith in skipper Adam Gilchrist, who has struggled in IPL 2013.
"Shaun Marsh will not play on Friday," he added. "He is not fit yet. We tested him before, he is pretty close to recovery, but he will not feature against KKR.
"We have a couple of other injury concerns as well, but we will have to wait and see till match day how the rest pull up.
"Gilly has led really well and kept wickets well too. We would obviously like more runs from him and he would also want to get a lot more runs. We will have to wait and see how he does."
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