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[caption id="attachment_14632" align="alignnone" width="580"] Knight Riders assistant coach Simon Katich coming back after having a look at the Eden Gardens wicket on Saturday. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption] Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach Simon Katich has virtually termed tomorrow’s all important match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League as final. The Knight Riders are precariously placed in the IPL table and a slip up against Sunrisers will see them bow out of the tournament if Mumbai Indians win tonight against Gujarat Lions. The hosts are plagued with injuries to key bowlers Andre Russell and Umesh Yadav. The Jamaican along with Umesh is suffering from hamstring injuries. Adding to the worries will be the conditions here with continuous rainfall for the last couple of days. But the Knight Riders assistant coach is quite upbeat about the mood in the camp. “Everyone was disappointed with the result in Kanpur the other night. A loss like that doesn’t mean we are a bad team. The fact is that we have to regroup and start again. That is the nature of this format. It wasn’t long ago that we played beautifully against the Rising Pune Supergiants. It is something that you have to deal with in this format of the game. You can’t let the disappointment linger too much. It is important to move on and have a positive mindset for the next game.” Talking about the approach for Sunday’s game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the former Aussie cricketer said, “We will know a bit more after the games tonight so that is going to play a part. Ultimately we know that if we win, we get through. Having a good run-rate helps and that is due to some good wins this season. I think we will be going into this game not worrying about the result. We will be going in thinking about how we are going to win this game.” The sudden dip in the form of the Knight Riders openers have contributed to the failure in recent matches, feel Katich. “They have been a huge part of us having a great start to the tournament. Any team thrives on having a good solid opening partnership in this format. We have certainly been best with that. The last couple of games haven’t gone according to plan but Gambhir and Robin are both very experienced players and they know that they do have a huge responsibility in that position. We feel that they are very good players and good players normally respond to pressure and big match occasion. This is basically like a final and I am sure they would want to go and do as well as they can to get us off to a good start." Apart from the injuries, the Knights team management will be concerned with the wicket given the amount of rains for the last couple of days which have forced the grounds men to keep the wickets under cover. Katich, who had a look at the wickets before coming for the pre match conference said, “With this amount of rain around, the preparation has been affected by that. It won’t be as dry as normal depending on how hot it is tomorrow. It has been a good wicket all tournament so from that point of view, both teams have to play on it. It is only going to be fair to both teams. It just depends on what style of bowler suits more whether it suits the quicks, whether there is any swing around or still suits the spinners and grips a bit because there might be a bit of moisture in it.” A lot will depend on Sunil Narine’s bowling with the absence of Russell (if he does not recover in time for the match). The mystery spinner has so far failed to be live up to the expectation. Katich stood beside the mystery spinner and reckons it is a big thing to make a comeback from the situation he was in. “It is a big thing to comeback from. The history of guys of working on their actions, a lot of spinners have found it hard to comeback. The fact that he is back and there have been no question marks on his actions is a big positive. You got to remember too that he had a substantial amount of time out of the game. He has had to remodel his action which has taken a fair bit of time with a lot of work.” Sunrisers will be banking on Mustafizur Rahman to deliver the goods. The promising Bangladeshi bowler has been a revelation in his first season in IPL. On being asked how the Knight Riders batsman are preparing themselves to counter him, Katich said, “We spent a fair amount of time talking about him in the previous game when we played him in Hyderabad. The way our batsmen approached him nullified his influence on the game. The match situation was different because our bowlers did a good job restricting them to a decent score. That took a lot of pressure from our batting line-up. I thought our batsmen, particularly Gautam played beautifully and nullified his damage upfront and at the death. It is something that we have to do tomorrow.” Lastly, he had words of praise for his native David Warner, whom he reckons did a terrific job in leading the Sunrisers. According to Katich , “He is a very good captain and there is no doubt that he is having a very positive influence on this team. His runs speak for themselves and they are crucial runs because they are at the top of the order and they take a lot of pressure off his teammates. The biggest thing is that he seems to be having a really good working relationship with Tom Moody who is very experienced. That shows when they are on the field, they have found out what their right balance is for their team. He uses his bowlers well and tactically he is a very good thinker of the game. He has got all the hallmarks to be a fine captain. If he does have that opportunity within Australia to become the captain, then this experience here will be doing his captaincy and leadership prospects no harm. Even his attitude - he is not touching any alcohol for the last twelve months - that itself is strong leadership - setting a great example to the rest of the group.”