Just a win away from clinching an IPL playoff berth, when the high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) take on a demoralized Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 49th match of the Pepsi Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens on Thursday, they will be looking for nothing short of a straight win.

Kolkata have won their last five games and are currently placed fourth in the points table with 14 points for 12 games. On the other hand, Bangalore have only won five of the 12 games they played in IPL T20 2014 thus far.

In the last few outings, the top-order of Kolkata has been the key to their. In addition to Robin Uthappa, skipper Gautam Gambhir has also been in fine form. Uthappa displayed his class with some vintage stroke-play in their last game against Chennai Super Kings defeating Mahendra Singh Dhoni's boys by eight wickets on Monday. The victory against Chennai has lifted the spirits of the Kolkata camp. Even Shakib Al Hasan, Ryan ten Doeschate and Yusuf Pathan have chipped in with useful runs when needed.

The mystical Sunil Narine spearheads Kolkata's bowling. Most batmen in the opposition camps have failed to understand his tricky bowling. Bangladeshi recruit Shakib has also bowled some fine spells in this tournament. Even their think tank is working overtime to pose difficulties for rival batsmen. This was evident when Pat Cummins was picked ahead of Morne Morkel in their last game against Chennai.

On the other hand, despite a good start, Bangalore has been inconsistent throughout this tournament. While Yuvraj Singh and AB de Villiers are in good form, skipper Virat Kohli and the explosive West Indies batsman Chris Gayle have not been able to do justice to their reputation.

Even the bowling department of Bangalore has not been performing up to the mark, this despite the fact that young Varun Aaron, Mitchell Starc and leg-spinner Yuzevendra Chahal have been taking wickets regularly. In fact, their bowlers have failed to prevent opponents from putting huge totals on the scoreboard.

As both teams especially are desperate to win the game, especially Bangalore, Thursday's game at the Eden Gardens promises to be a close contest between two excellent teams.

The match will start at 6.00 a.m. EDT (4.00 p.m. local time) and can be watched live on GoCricket.com and SkyCricket.net.