The Rajasthan Royals will face the Kolkata Knight Riders at Kingsmead in Durban in a must-win game for the former.

With 13 points from as many games, a win here for the Royals will ensure that they still have an outside chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage, while a loss will put them in the same category as Mumbai and Kolkata; out of the tournament!
 
The Knight Riders (11/8 at Sporting Bet to win game), on the other hand, had an excellent previous game against the Chennai Super Kings – albeit a little late in the day for them – when they chased down almost 190 off the last ball of the inning. Brendon McCullum (7/2 at Ladbrokes to be top Kolkata scorer) has had a couple of innings to remember in the last three games, including the 81 that he smashed against the Super Kings. He will be a good option, though it must be added that the setting was relatively different; the Knight Riders had almost nothing to lose and were up against a huge target. The other half-century scorer, Brad Hodge (4/1 at Ladbrokes to be highest KKR scorer) looks to be a better option given that his contributions have been more consistent throughout the tournament.
 
David Hussey (9/2 at Stan James to top the KKR batting) did not get enough overs to get set and bat on, but is a decent bet. He is highly under-rated, but the advantage he has is that he can play both kinds of roles; as an aggressor or as someone to hold the inning together. The same cannot be said about Sourav Ganguly (5/1 at Sky Bet to top the batting for KKR), who played a woeful couple of innings and looks most likely to be dropped from the playing eleven.
 
For the Rajasthan Royals, the best piece of news is that Amit Singh’s action has been cleared and he should be fit to play in the game. However, their woes stem more from their top-order, with the absence of Graeme Smith’s (7/2 at Stan James to be best Rajasthan batsman) form and tapering of Yusuf Pathan’s (5/1 at Ladbrokes to be Rajasthan’s top batsman) batting in the recent past. Ravindra Jadeja (6/1 at Ladbrokes to be top Rajasthan batsman) looks good for now, as he can hold the innings together and play the big shots in the end, but he needs support and desperately at that.
 
Rob Quiney (4/1 at Sky Bet to be the top-scorer for Royals) did hit a fifty, but whether he is consistent enough to build on from there and be the highest scorer of the match remains to be seen. Naman Ojha (11/2 at Bet365 to be top Royals batsman) struggled in the previous encounter and his footwork was akin to a cat’s on a hot tin roof. The opponents would have probably seen it and will want to exploit it further. It also depends on whether Ishant Sharma (9/2 at Stan James to be most economic bowler) is brought back by the Knight Riders and he can extract enough bounce from the track to trouble the batsman.
 
Tips:
Favourites: Rajasthan Royals (8/11 at Sky Bet)
Top Rajasthan batsman: Yusuf Pathan (5/1 at Ladbrokes)
Top Kolkata batsman: Brad Hodge (4/1 at Ladbrokes)
Most economical bowler: Shane Warne (9/2 at Stan James)