Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will kickstart proceedings of the second double-header weekend of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 when they square off at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Saturday.

KXIP will be out to halt their four-match losing streak and register their second win of the season while KKR will look to continue their winning run and here are the players to watch out for in the KXIP-KKR clash.

Stranded at the bottom of the points table, Kings XI Punjab have undoubtedly been the worst-performing team of the season so far. It is rather surprising because it is the same team that has given us some of the tournament's glorious performances, with bat and ball both. With just one win in six matches, the Kings have two points and their recent loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad has ensured that their net run-rate doesn't stay healthy either. They have a net run-rate of -0.431, which could be a factor should things get tight towards the end of the league stage.

Mayank Agarwal has looked good in the last couple of matches, but hasn't really managed to kick-on and get a big score. KL Rahul, on the other hand, now seems to be feeling the pressure of captaincy and that is reflecting in his own batting performance. Despite a dismal batting performance in the previous match, Kings XI Punjab have a few positives to draw as well. Nicholas Pooran, who happened to be the lone warrior, would be more confident after his belligerent knock and could prove to a trump card for his team in the upcoming matches. Glenn Maxwell's form continues to be a cause of concern and he might not have much time with him before the management decides to replace him with someone else.

Rarely do teams win matches when their bowlers fail to take wickets. After a wicket-less night against Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab's bowlers suffered a similar fate for the most part of their innings before Ravi Bishnoi got rid of David Warner. Captaincy, as well, appeared to be pretty defensive as KL Rahul decided to operate with the bowlers not known to be wicket-takers. They'll be pleasantly surprised by the performance of Arshdeep Singh and the youngster might have a big role to play against KKR as well. Despite a decent display at death, the Kings still don't have a settled set of bowlers to bowl in the death overs and that could be a massive challenge against KKR. As a replacement for Sheldon Cottrell, we might see Chris Jordan being brought back into the playing eleven in the upcoming match.

It is apparent that Kings XI Punjab are desperate to get a win under their belt. They were found making too many changes off-field and trying too many things on-fields, and such uncertainly could backfire in the upcoming matches. Kings XI Punjab do not have much time remaining for them to get back to the winning ways and they'd need their seniors to step up.

Not often do we see Chennai Super Kings losing from a position of strength. However, they did in their last match wherein they were playing against Kolkata Knight Riders. It was a great tactical win by Kolkata Knight Riders that took them to the third spot on the points table.

With almost seven bowlers available to bowl, Kolkata Knight Riders are one of the better-balanced teams in the competition and that could be a significant advantage to have in the shortest version of the game. It's not that their batting lineup is thinly stacked. They have the likes of Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, and Shubhman Gill available, who all have looked good in the middle. Their move to open with Rahul Tripathi also worked wonders as Tripathi single-handedly took them to a challenging total, which proved to be vital at the end.

One of the major concerns for the Knight Riders would be their skipper's form and batting position. While Dinesh Karthik has been brilliant with his decisions and with the gloves, he has failed to deliver with the bat. He hasn't looked sure with his shot-selection and that is something he would need to work on before getting into the business end of the tournament.

On paper, Kolkata Knight Riders have an immaculately balanced team, but performing consistently has been an issue with them thus far. While they have good batsmen available right through, they rely heavily on Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell to score heavily at the end. We believe that the decision to open with Rahul Tripathi will help the Knight Riders to sort their issues out, as far as consistency is concerned. With the ball, they have a wide array of options available, be it in the powerplay or at the death.

Weather Forecast
The temperature in Abu Dhabi will remain between 30 to 35 degrees Celsius today with wind speeds around 21 km/h and humidity likely to be in the 50s range.

Pitch Report
The pitch at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi is pretty balanced one and offers plenty of support to both the batsmen and the bowlers. The surface hasn't been a difficult one to bat one, but it hasn't been a batting beauty either. The ground here is pretty big and hitting sixes won't be easy. Abu Dhabi has been the lowest-scoring venue in the tournament.

Toss Prediction
The pitch tends to slow down as the match progresses and it becomes difficult for batsmen to hit big shots giving bowlers a boost. With no dew playing its part as its a day game, the one winning the toss will not hesitate in batting first and put a total of at least 175 runs on the board.

Stats and Facts
Head to head: Matches Played: 25
Kolkata Knight Riders: 18
Kings XI Punjab: 7

Approaching Milestones:
Mohammad Shami needs 1 wicket to complete 50 IPL wickets.
KL Rahul needs 9 sixes to complete 100 IPL sixes.
Eoin Morgan needs 3 runs and 6 sixes to complete 1000 IPL runs and 50 IPL sixes respectively.
Andre Russell requires 50 runs to complete 1500 IPL runs.

Likely XIs:
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Mayank Agarwal, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell/Chris Jordan, Arshdeep Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (capt&wk), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy

Players to Watch Out For:
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul, Glenn Maxwell, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine

Match Odds:
Delhi Capitals: 1.72
Kings XI Punjab: 2.10

SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Kings XI Punjab

IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds
Mumbai Indians - 3.6
Delhi Capitals - 3.75br> Kolkata Knight Riders - 6
Royal Challengers Bangalore - 6.5
Chennai Super Kings - 10
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 10
Rajasthan Royals - 26
Kings XI Punjab - 34

Match Venue: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Time: 3.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP