A victory can work wonders for the team morale. Ask Dinesh Karthik and his players and they will testify.

Troubled by an inflexible batting order and an opening combination that failed to get going, Kolkata Knight Riders looked a team bereft of ideas. Things, however, changed dramatically with the win in the match against Chennai Super Kings.

Tactical changes did them a world of good as they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men. KKR will be riding this new wave of confidence when they take on Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

However, there are several issues that need to be sorted out if KKR are to harbour ambitions of making the playoffs. If the decision to get Rahul Tripathi to open the innings with Shubman Gill clicked, Sunil Narine coming ahead of Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell defied logic.

Given their batting strength, Morgan perfectly suits the No.4 slot to provide the momentum to the innings followed by Russell. Captain Karthik and Narine can come in at No.6 and 7, respectively.

If Tripathi can work his magic again at the top against the likes of Mohammed Shami and Sheldon Cottrell, KKR could hope to continue their winning run. Tripathi was brisk in the powerplay, and then anchored the innings in the absence of fireworks from the middle order.

KKR could again gamble by bringing in Narine in the later stages. KXIP openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are good players of spin and keeping Narine and Russell exclusively for the death overs could help choke the run flow. Russell’s death-overs economy rate of 8.57 and five wickets show that it’s a plan that’s coming off for KKR.

KXIP have been struggling, having lost their last four matches. Another defeat could derail their chances in the tournament.

It wouldn’t come as a surprise if head coach Anil Kumble decides to give Chris Gayle his first match in place of the woefully out-of-form Glenn Maxwell. The flamboyant West Indian was supposed to play against Sunrisers Hyderabad but a bout of food poisoning ruled him out.

Nicholas Pooran’s exploits with the bat is a positive for them but how he fares against a much disciplined KKR attack remains to be seen. KKR will hope to dismiss the KXIP openers early to put the brakes on their scoring rate. Mystery spinners Narine and Varun Chakravarthy are likely to be their main weapons on a slow wicket.

A major worry for KXIP has been their death bowling and how they stand up against the KKR big hitters could determine the outcome.