Big picture: Will Royals end their losing streak?

But their fortunes nosedived since those dizzying heights - they have now suffered five losses in their last six games. While the openers are still going great, Hetmyer's returns have dried up and Boult has missed a couple of games with a niggle. Some of their tactics, too, have been questionable. Like sending R Ashwin to bat ahead of Jason Holder in certain games. Or not making full use of the Impact Player rule at times. They have to start winning again before it is too late.

Kolkata Knight Riders WWLWL (last five matches, most recent first)
Rajasthan Royals LLLWL

Team news: Trent Boult is available again

Boult missed Royals' previous game, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, with a niggle. But he is available for Thursday's game.

KKR are likely to be unchanged. Jason Roy and Suyash Sharma should once again be their Impact options.

Kolkata Knight Riders (probable XII): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Andre Russell, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Shardul Thakur, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Vaibhav Arora, 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Suyash Sharma

Royals will have to decide on their fourth overseas player. Do they want to strengthen their batting with Joe Root, or their bowling with one of Adam Zampa or Obed McCoy, or a bit of both with Holder? Dhruv Jurel and Kuldip Yadav should ideally be their Impact pair.

Rajasthan Royals (probable XII): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 4 Joe Root, 5 Devdutt Padikkal, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Dhruv Jurel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal, 12 Kuldip Yadav

Stats that matter: Chahal on the cusp of history

Pitch and conditions: Another run-fest?

"I asked bhaiyya [MS Dhoni] what more I can add to my batting for the death overs. He told me, 'No need to think too much. Let the bowler do what he wants to, and react accordingly.'"
Rinku Singh on what he discussed with MS Dhoni after the Chennai Super Kings game