Rahane: This game was really important for us. WInning by big margin was crucial. Even we wanted to bowl on this wicket. When we lost two early wickets, wanted to consolidate till 6 overs - play with intent but play cricketing shots. And then when we have wickets in hand, guys down the order can get as many runs as possible. Happy with the batting unit. Last two games were not upto the mark for us. But we learned a lot from our mistakes. This is a great example for us as a batting unit. Rinku and Venkatesh - those guys can play brilliant shots. Ramandeep was sitting in the dugout, Dre was sitting and Moeen was also ready. It was about playing normal till 15 overs and take it on. Initially we thought 170-180 in the surface would be good. Slower balls were gripping. We had three quality spinners. Moeen, unfortunately, couldn't bowl tonight. Sunny and Varun bowled really well. Credit goes to Vaibhav and Harshit as well.

Pat Cummins: Not a great time. I think this was gettable, pretty good wicket. Left too many in the field and then fell well short in the end. We need to be realistic, three games in a row it hasn’t come off for us. We need to maybe look back at whether we could have chosen better options. Our batters are best when they take the game on, but looking back maybe we could have taken different options. (On what went wrong) It was mainly our fielding, overall bowling wasn’t bad. We should have taken a few catches and stopped them a bit earlier. (On Adam Zampa not playing) We only bowled 3 overs of spin, the ball wasn’t gripping for us too. So opted to go without him. (On how he will deal with this loss) I will probably address it on whether we could have used different options, but don’t want to dwell too much on it. We go back to a venue we know so well now.

Russell to Harshal, OUT! Straight up and Russell completes the proceedings. A massive 80-run victory for KKR to get back on track.

Harshal Patel c & b Russell 3 (5b)

Chakaravarthy to Cummins, OUT! There goes another one down the ground. Cummins attempts to wield the long handle but ends up connecting it to the long-on fielder. Chakaravarthy to Simarjeet, OUT! Make that two in two! A corker from Chakaravarthy zips through the defences of Simarjeet first ball to hit the stumps. Mohammed Shami is the last man in and he sees off the hat-trick delivery! 

Pat Cummins c Harshit Rana b Varun 14 (15b 2x4); Simarjeet Singh b Varun 0 (1b)

Arora returns and Klaasen gets away with a strange french-cut past the stumps for FOUR. The streaky luck of fortune does not last long. Klaasen is undone by a short ball that rises over his shoulder. Regulation catch for the square-leg fielder and KKR have all but sealed the game right there. SRH 114/7 in 15 overs 

Heinrich Klaasen c Ali b Arora 33 (21b 2x4 2x6)

Narine hits the slot twice and Klaasen biffs the ball on both occasions with tenacious mucle over wide long-on for two huge SIXes. Narine skids one through past Klaasen's blade and there seems to be an edge. At least de Kock is interested but none of his teammates. Well, replays indeed suggest a nick and KKR miss out on closing the game completely there. A couple of singles to follow as Narine pushes the ball further up. SRH 106/6 in 14 overs

Rana returns with a couple of fiery deliveries and nearly knocks Cummins' grille off with a searing bumper. Another short ball and this time Cummins streakily gets bat on ball, parrying it over the fence for FOUR. SRH 91/6 in 13 overs

SRH are fighting to survive and perhaps see out the overs here. Narine skims through a tight over in trademark fashion, just the four runs from it. SRH 84/6 in 12 overs

Chakaravarthy to Aniket, OUT! No fairytale and fireworks tonight. Short ball and Aniket pulls it out to the deep mid-wicket fielders. This has been a pretty middling effort from SRH, with almost everybody throwing away their wickets in a steep chase.

SRH 80/6 in 11 overs

Aniket Verma c Iyer b Varun 6 (6b 1x4)

Narine to Kamindu, OUT! Straight to the deep. Narine extracts a vicious turn from the strip away from Kamindu, who drags the ball to the deep and finds the fielder. In comes Aniket Verma at 7 after his spell-binding knock from the previous match. SRH 72/5 in 10 overs 

Kamindu Mendis c sub (AS Roy) b Narine 27 (20b 1x4 2x6)

Varun attempts a carrom ball that falls way too short and Klaasen nimbly shuffles to guide it down leg for FOUR. Six from the over as SRH and KKR head into the time-out. Are the Sunrisers throwing away too much too soon to end up in situations like this? It's almost a habit now with three games on the bounce. SRH 63/4 in 9 overs

Andre Russell into the attack

Short and Kamindu wallops it over deep mid-wicket for SIX first up! Width outside off-stump and Kamindu creams it through extra cover for FOUR. A single to follow. Russell to Nitish, OUT! Couldn't have found the fielder any better. Nitish clears his front leg to a delivery angled in and hacks it straight to Narine in the deep. This chase is fast slipping away from SRH's grasp and NKR makes it worse with his poor dismissal. SRH 51/4 in 7 overs

Nitish Kumar Reddy c Narine b Russell 19 (15b 2x4 1x6) 

Varun Chakaravarthy darts in a beautiful delivery that snakes in to nearly mat NKR. Huge appeal from KKR and they go up for the review. The ball just did too much in the end, missing leg-stump. SRH 33/3 in 6 overs

First loosener from Arora and Nitish flicks it down leg for FOUR. FOUR more as Nitish smears the ball square. Another loose delivery. Arora offers a low full-toss and Nitish peppers it over backward square for SIX - 14 from the over. SRH 29/3 in 5 overs

Harshit steams through another over as Kamindu and Nitish fail to pierce the gaps. Excellent seam bowling on display here, coupled with tight fields from Rahane. Only five from the over. SRH 14/3 in 4 overs

Arora to Kishan, OUT! Gone in a flash! Rahane rolls back the years as the ball simply sticks it into his hands as Kishan smears a wide delivery through the off-side. That's two in two for KKR as SRH's exaggerated over-drive is falling apart. Kamindu Mendis is the new man in. Arora pins him to the crease. Five dots! Wicket maiden. What a start this is for Arora and KKR!

Ishan Kishan c Rahane b Arora 2 (5b)

Harshit Rana into the attack

Harshit to Abhishek, GONE! SRH are under the pump once again. A superb delivery outside the off-stump from Rana who has Iyer firm at first slip. A wild swipe from Abhishek and the ball clips the edge on its way to the KKR captain. SRH 9/2 in 2 overs

Abhishek Sharma c Iyer b Harshit Rana 2 (6b)

Vaibhav Arora to Head, OUT! The over-zealous Aussie holes out after pumping the first ball for FOUR. Head attempts a mighty biff but the ball lobs up and Harshit Ranae latches onto a fine catch on the edge of the circle at mid-off. Ishan Kishan is in at 3 as Arora skims through a cracking over. SRH 6/1 in 1 over

Travis Head c Harshit Rana b Arora 4 (2b 1x4)

Rahane leads the troops out to the field. KKR have historically had the edge over SRH and they've got the bowlers and the score to secure a defence. Travis Head walks in as the Impact Sub alongside Abhishek Sharma.

Slower ball in the slot and Iyer pumps Harshal over long-on for SIX. High full-toss outside off and Iyer sends the ball flying down to third for a FOUR! KKR appeal for a no-ball is denied. Harshal to Iyer, OUT! High up in the air but Iyer finds the long-on fielder this time. The shot was on but Iyer fails to get the desired muscle on the shot this time. Andre Russell is in. He gets off the blocks with a single and Harshal nails a low full-toss to Rinku who can only find another single. 200 up for KKR and that's where things will stand as Harshal rolls in a deft slower-bouncer to finish. KKR 200/6 in 20 overs

Venkatesh Iyer c Verma b Patel 60 (29b 7x4 3x6)

Venkatesh Iyer runs riot against Cummins. A brilliant ramp, a thunderous pummel, blistering flick and a snappy slice over backward point. 4 - 6 - 4 - 4! Venkatesh Iyer has dramatically flipped the scales and raced to a fifty in only 25 balls while silencing the SRH captain. Cummins leaks 21 in the over as KKR find themselves on course for 200. KKR 187/4 in 19 overs

KKR seamlessly shift gears as Venkatesh Iyer smites Simarjeet for successive FOURs before Rinku wallops Simarjeet for a colossal SIX over long-on. KKR 166/4 in 18 overs 

Harshal returns

Slower-bumper and Rinku is right on top of it, smothering the ball through mid-wicket for a FOUR. Width outside off and Rinku flays it to the deep, but a misfield from Aniket Verma sends the ball over to the boundary for another FOUR. Hat-trick for Rinku. Uses all muscle this time to crunch the ball past extra cover for another FOUR. It's been a while since we've had Rinku in his element.

Shami is on after the break.

He comes around the stumps with a bouncer and Iyer cheekily dabs it over short-third for FOUR. Shami drills it full and Iyer squeezes a single. Another rank full toss and Rinku clobbers it through extra cover for FOUR. KKR 134/4 in 16 overs

Venkatesh plugs the boundary drought as he devours a Simarjeet bumper, hooking it over fine-leg for SIX. That's the first boundary in 19 balls and KKR have found their release. Simarjeet still nails in a nine-run over before the timeout. KKR 122/4 in 15 overs

The boundary flow has been on a wane as the new batters have struggled to get their eye in quickly. Add to that the nagging Harshal who keeps floating in change-of-pace deliveries to trouble the batters. Five from the over. KKR 113/4 in 14 overs

Kamindu Mendis into the attack

FIFTY for Raghuvanshi in only 30 balls. Cracking knock under pressure as the youngster brings up only his second half-century. Kamindu to Raghuvanshi, OUT! Is it taken this time? Looks like Abhishek Sharma has pulled off a fine catching leaping forward as Raghuvanshi miscues the slice to the deep. OUT screams the giant screen and Raguvanshi falls shortly after the milestone. The ambidextrous Mendis has suddenly unleashed his right-arm off-breaks to the left-handed pair of Rinku Singh and Iyer.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Patel b Mendis 50 (32b 5x4 2x6)

Simarjeet to Raghuvanshi - Chance and put down by NKR again! He's had a troubled time on the field for a few games now and Nitish puts down a rather regulation chance running in from deep mid-wicket to Raghuvanshi's miscued slog. Extra pace to follow from Simarjeet and Angkrish smoothly walks into the drive through extra cover, beating the fielder for another FOUR. KKR 104/3 in 12 overs

Zeeshan tosses one up and Raghuvanshi eases into a smooth slog down the ground for SIX! Similar line to follow from the leggie but Raghuvanshi switches for a reverse-sweep for FOUR through a regulation point region. This has been an excellent knock thus far walk in at no. 4 with the side in trouble. Zeeshan to Rahane, OUT! In his attempt to match up to Raghuvanshi, Rahane completely errs with the reverse, scooping the ball tamely up to Klaasen. Venkatesh Iyer is in at 5.

KKR 97/3 in 11 overs

Ajinkya Rahane c Klaasen b Zeeshan Ansari 38 (27b 1x4 4x6)

Cummins returns with a shade of cheeky wrist-work on the ball. Rahane is wound to the crease with a couple of deft off-cutters and he gets away with a slash to the deep, single. Cummins errs with a slower one on length and bang, again! Rahane nails the pull through wide long on for another gorgeous SIX! KKR 84/2 in 10 overs

Zeeshan keeps the batters on their toes by ripping the ball sharply from the strip. Rahane gets away with a leading edge that falls short of the cover fielder. Four runs from it. KKR 75/2 in 9 overs

Harshal Patel's up with the ball now

Full delivery outside the off-stump and Raghuvanshi neatly carves it through point for FOUR. Harshal immediately corrects his lines as the batters resort to singles to keep the board floating. Full toss angling in and yet Raghuvanshi readjusts to send the ball through extra cover for FOUR. KKR 71/2 in 8 overs

Zeeshan Ansari into the attack

Short and wide from Zeeshan and Rahane slaps it hard to the deep. Misfield, misfield as a sliding Nitish Reddy sends the ball parriying to the fence for a FOUR. Rahane and Raghuvanshi have nicely kept the board ticking with a diet of singles. KKR 61/2 in 7 overs

Simarjeet Singh replaces Cummins

No matter who comes now, Rahane is absolutely nailing the pulls over the square. Simarjeet offers a short ball and Rahane glides around smoothly to send it sailing over the fence for SIX. A string of singles follows and Simarjeet bangs in short again. This time Raghuvanshi gets on top of the rising ball with a hook that sends the ball soaring over fine-leg for SIX! KKR 53/2

Oh my, Rahane! He has left the entire Eden Gardens befuddled with a stunning swipe off Mohammed Shami. That was Shami, folks. Mohammed Shami's fuller delivery has been swept across by Rahane over square-leg for a 78m SIX and Shami cannot help do anything but smile wryly. A single follows and Raghuvanshi gives the charge for a slash through backward point for FOUR. KKR 38/2 in 5 overs

Cummins bangs one in and Rahane unleashes a pristine pull-shot to swat the ball over deep square for a gorgeous SIX. The bat swing, goodness! Rahane's game against pace in the white-ball circuit has just been a class apart from a few seasons now. But Cummins immediately warns against any complacency with a deft off-cutter that nearly splits him in half. KKR 26/2 in 4 overs

Shami to Narine, OUT! Is that taken? Narine cannot decipher whether he's been dismissed but his skipper has said that he might indeed be caught out there. Shami goes full outside the off-stump and Narine, in his attempt to dig it out, has sent it straight to Klaasen behind the stumps with an outside-edge. Angkrish Raghuvanshi comes in at 4 and gets off the blocks with a single. KKR 17/2 in 3 overs

Pat Cummins from the opposite end

BANG! There goes the white Kookaburra high into the orbit. Cummins sets up the perfect delivery in the slot for Narine's released heave through the line over mid-wicket for a huge SIX. Cummins immediately goes fuller to cramp up Narine, offering minimal room for him to swing his arms. Another leg-bye to follow. Cummins to de Kock, OUT! Caught in the deep this time. Cummins stations deep mid-wicket with a fielder for the South African and the perfect bumper to the shoulder forces de Kock to slap straight to the man. Big breakthrough there and a dismissal well plotted. KKR 14/1 in 2 overs

Quinton de Kock c Zeeshan Ansari b Cummins 1 (6b)

Mohammed Shami takes the new ball

Shami starts from around the wicket and sends a massive wide down leg past de Kock. He swings it across the line yet again and the ball trickles off de Kock's pads down leg for FOUR leg-byes. Shami goes over the stumps and cramps up de Kock who gets off the blocks with a single. And he's back around the stumps for Narine. Another leg-bye single as Narine attempts a heave to a rising delivery. Shami is struggling in landing the ball on a spot here. Shami gestures for a slip. He's still attempting to find his lengths here and understandably Cummins places a slip fielder. Beauty. That's more like Shami as he scuttles one past de Kock's under-edge to the keeper. Beaten, fair and square. KKR 7/0 in 1 over

Mohammed Shami is up with the new ball as Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine walk out for KKR.

Sayak Dutta, our man on the ground, says the stands to the right of the press box have swathes of space left vacant. A day after Bravo batted for the home crowds and the advantage, that makes for a meek viewing. However, Sayak observes the far left is jam-packed.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact Subs: Abhinav Manohar, Jaydev Unadkat, Travis Head, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder.

Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell Luvnith Sisodia.

An interesting call from SRH to bring in Kamindu Mendis to make his IPL debut. That means Travis Head in all likelihood will step in as the Impact Sub. But a bigger question: Is SRH short on bowling tonight on a belter?

Mohammed Shami is indeed playing on his home ground, and SRH will hope he brings in all the nous to derail KKR. SRH will be heading in with four seamers while KKR have reinforced their attack with an additional spinner in Moeen Ali besides Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy.

Kolkata Knight Riders XI: Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh

Sunrisers Hyderabad XI: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Kamindu Mendis, Simarjeet Singh, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Zeeshan Ansari

Toss: SRH win toss, opt to field

Pat Cummins: We will bowl. Looks like a good surface, but I'm terrible at reading it. They outplayed us in the final, but a bit of change in both sides. We've spoken about our batting, we've been at our best while being aggressive, but we can't be reckless. He (Aniket) has been amazing, doesn't get unfazed by any situation. Coordination is the key, but we do have a clear idea. We do have a couple of changes for SRH as well. Kamindu Mendis makes his IPL debut and Simarjeet Singh is back into the first XI

Ajinkya Rahane: Looks good, I'm really happy with the pitch, we were also bowling first. It will suit our spinners, at home, you should get what you want, but we'll need to assess the situation quickly with the bat. We sat together, discussed how we can get better, but this is a long tournament and it was one bad day. Moeen Ali comes in place of Spencer Johnson. Regardless of all plans, we'll have to come out and do well in the middle.

Ajinkya Rahane and Pat Cummins out in the middle for the coin flip

Nitish Kumar Reddy: Last year they (SRH) showed faith in me. It's time for me to stand up, perform and make the situation better for the team. Personally, I was trying too much, just need to keep calm and take the game on, that's the team plan, as you know, we're not the team that plays for 140s and 150s, we know the batting style, we might flop some matches, but hopefully we'll have a better day today, it's about the 1-2-3 setting up the platform for the rest of the batting group. I haven't bowled a lot, looking at my batting and fielding, I want to save as many runs as possible and score as much as possible with the bat.

Varun Chakaravarthy proved to be a major difference during the Champions Trophy semi-final last month in Dubai as India hoped to get past the Australian barrier. Specifically inserted to dismiss the menacing Travis Head, it didn't take long for the Tamil Nadu spinner to make an impact. In a shorter format, will Rahane trust Chakaravarthy with a similar Powerplay plot to neutralise the swashbuckling southpaw?

Eden Gardens pitch report: 62m and 64m square boundaries with the straight boundary at 75m. The pockets aren't too big either, at 69m and 70m respectively. A pretty good surface, it's really firm and well put together, well grassed. But there is an area where there are some spots which can be worked out by the spinners. You can bowl a full length, hit those spots and get some spin with the new ball as well. 100% chase if you win the toss, a hot day at around 35 degrees, dew could come in and make the ball skid - Pommie Mbangwa and Eoin Morgan

Eden Gardens pitch report: 62m and 64m square boundaries with the straight boundary at 75m. The pockets aren't too big either, at 69m and 70m respectively. A pretty good surface, it's really firm and well put together, well grassed. But there is an area where there are some spots which can be worked out by the spinners. You can bowl a full length, hit those spots and get some spin with the new ball as well. 100% chase if you win the toss, a hot day at around 35 degrees, dew could come in and make the ball skid - Pommie Mbangwa and Eoin Morgan

SRH's poor away record!

SRH had a rather tough time with the toss last year, losing five of the 10 tosses in away matches. Interestingly, they lost all five games where they won the toss and ended up on top in 4/5 matches where they lost the toss!

SRH predicted 11 vs KKR: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Zeeshan Ansari. Impact Sub: Wiaan Mulder/Adam Zampa.

KKR predicted 11 vs SRH: Quinton de Kock (w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson, Varun Chakaravarthy. KKR Impact Sub: Vaibhav Arora/Manish Pandey.

With the addition of Ajinkya Rahane and Quinton de Kock into the top-order, not a lot has changed within KKR ranks. However, things haven't really clicked with recurring collapses. Well, one can only wait and see if that is going to be the theme of the series as SRH have also faced a share of similar problems during their defeats. Are teams too reliant on slam-bang cricket that the bowlers have found it easier to sneak past them?

KKR have won four of the last five matches against SRH. It is not entirely surprising when pulls out the entire history between the sides, with KKR leading by a whopping 19-9 margin over the years.

KKR vs SRH most wickets (among active players)

• Andre Russell - 23 wickets
• Sunil Narine  - 14 wickets
• Varun Chakaravarthy - 11 wickets

KKR vs SRH most runs (among active players)

• Manish Pandey - 438 runs
• Andre Russell - 305 runs
• Heinrich Klaasen - 163 runs

The Eden Gardens strip for tonight is expected to be a dry surface that favour spinners like KKR’s Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy. With minimal watering, the pitch might also may slow down. 

Too much focus on the top-order batsmen and disregard for middle-order might see team's struggling to reach the magical total. Lalith Kalidas analyses why 300 may still be far-fetched in this IPL.

Temperatures are up to 36 degrees Celsius at the moment in Kolkata on a partly cloudy evening. Things are in the clear for a clean game.