Kolkata Knight Riders' Nathan Coulter-Nile, hero of their last match, has not travelled with the team for their clash against Rising Pune Supergiant on Wednesday.
Rising Pune Supergiant have been brilliant, winning their last three matches, and will look for their fourth victory on a trot, while two-time IPL champion KKR have been consistent in IPL 2017 with good cricket under their belt.
However, it remains to be seen if RPS are willing to break their winning combination. When it comes to IPL, captains have a huge squad, and they do not mind changing their team irrespective of their last match.
RPS might think about replacing Shardul Thakur, who has been hammered in the last two matches by bastmen, with Ashok Dinda, but with the former having two three-wicket hauls in IPL 2017, this could be his last chance.
With Players like Washington Sundar, Jaydev Unadkat and Dan Christian having bowled well, they are set to stick to these bowlers as well. Their batting looks solid with the likes of Steve Smith, Ajiinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi at the top. The presence of Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni and in-form Manoj Tiwary in the middle order makes it even scary.
Well, for KKR, Gautam Gambhir's side have to make a change from their last match. With Coulter-Nile out, it depends if the visitors want to replace the Australian with a spinner or seamer.
With good depth in KKR's squad, they have the luxury of Shaikb Al Hasan and Trent Boult, and the former might get the nod considering the pitch at the MCA stadium having favoured spinners a tad. The pacers have gone at 9.50 per over in the venue in IPL 2017.
Their seam attack, including Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme and Umesh Yadav can break any team's back, and Gambhir will look up to these pacers for another brilliant performance.
Their batting department has always been interesting. No one knows, who will Gautam Gambhir walk onto bat with as an opener? The left-hander has opened with Grandhomme and Sunil Narine, who has been hugely successful at the top. However, they have regular opener Robin Uthappa at their disposal too.
Irrespective of who opens the innings, the objective of KKR will remain the same, play hard cricket and beat RPS, who will be keep their winning momentum going.
Confirmed playing XI:
RPS: Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Steven Smith (c), Faf Du Plessis, MS Dhoni (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir, Jaydev Unadkat
KKR: Gautam Gambhir (c), Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa (wk), DM Bravo, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Colin de Grandhomme, Chris Woakes, Umesh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav
