Back home after nearly a month on the road and staring at the brink of elimination, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look to keep their IPL playoff hopes alive when they take on an in-form Gujarat Titans at Eden Gardens on Saturday.
KKR have three league matches left and can finish with a maximum of 15 points if they win all of them, though even that may not guarantee qualification and would leave them dependent on other results.
Another defeat, however, would all but end their campaign.
There was some encouraging news for KKR ahead of the must-win clash, with head coach Abhishek Nayar indicating that mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy could return after missing the previous game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru because of a fractured left leg.
His absence proved costly as KKR slipped to a six-wicket defeat, ending a four-match winning streak that had revived their campaign. The run of victories had largely been built around the strong form of spin duo Narine and Chakravarthy, along with steady contributions from vice-captain Rinku Singh.
"We're always excited to go back (home). We have our fans there, and we're looking to make sure when Varun comes back in the next game, we get our strong bowling side back together and use home conditions to our advantage," Nayar had said after the defeat to RCB.
It has been another inconsistent season for KKR under Ajinkya Rahane, whose appointment as captain had itself come under scrutiny after the franchise finished eighth under his leadership last year.
The side had to wait until their seventh match of the season to register their first win and have struggled to find consistency, with frequent changes in team combinations and batting-order experiments affecting momentum.
Even former captain Sourav Ganguly questioned the team management's handling of Rinku Singh, remarking at a public event that the left-hander bats "too low".
Young batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi has emerged as one of the few positives for KKR this season, scoring 340 runs at a strike rate of 139.44, including four half-centuries. Rinku, meanwhile, has contributed 286 runs at a strike rate of 148.95 with two fifties.
The duo will again be central to KKR's hopes in the remaining home matches against Gujarat Titans, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals.
In contrast, Gujarat Titans have looked among the most balanced teams this season, winning five matches in a row to move level on points with table-toppers Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
An in-form bowling attack has powered the Shubman Gill-led side's surge.
Kagiso Rabada has produced two Player-of-the-Match performances during the winning run, while Jason Holder has also chipped in with two match-winning displays. Rashid Khan, too, appears to have rediscovered his rhythm.
Their bowling strength has complemented a formidable top order led by Gill and Sai Sudharsan.
Sudharsan has once again been among the season's most prolific batters. After winning the Orange Cap last year with 759 runs, the left-hander has already amassed 501 runs this season and trails current leader Heinrich Klaasen by just seven runs. He has struck five fifties and a century in his last six innings.
Gill has also been in sublime touch, while Washington Sundar has quietly provided stability in the middle order.
GT will also hope England batter Jos Buttler returns to form after a relatively subdued campaign by his standards.
With league matches against KKR and Chennai Super Kings remaining, Gujarat Titans will be eager to secure a top-two finish and the advantage that comes with it in the playoffs.
Eden Gardens has offered considerable assistance to bowlers this season, and KKR's hopes may rest heavily on Narine, Chakravarthy and Cameron Green striking early against GT's powerful batting line-up.
Teams
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Rahul Tripathi, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Singh, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Cameron Green, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Navdeep Saini, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Matheesha Pathirana, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Deep, Varun Chakravarthy, Prashant Solanki.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), Anuj Rawat, Arshad Khan, Ashok Sharma, Jos Buttler, Connor Esterhuizen, Gurnoor Brar, Jason Holder, Kulwant Khejroliya, Kumar Kushagra, Mohammed Siraj, Glenn Phillips, Prasidh Krishna, Kagiso Rabada, Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Ishant Sharma, Nishant Sindhu, Manav Suthar, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Luke Wood, Jayant Yadav.
Match starts: 7.30pm IST.