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[caption id="attachment_14101" align="alignnone" width="580"] Knight Riders face a must win situation against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday at Eden Gardens.[/caption] Internet Desk: Two time former IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders find themselves in a must win situation in the last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens on Sunday. The Knights are in a similar situation like last season as they have to win their last match to guarantee a place in the play offs. The Gautam Gambhir led franchise had to win one out of their last two matches, but failed to do so as they lost to both Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians. This season also the Shahrukh Khan owned franchise required to win two out of their last four matches. But they made their task difficult by losing to Royal Challengers at home and against Lions at Kanpur on Thursday. The Knight Riders are placed fourth in the points table with 14 points from 13 matches with a net run rate of +0.022. Let us find out what are the five main reasons why the Knights find themselves in this situation. Opening partnership – The opening partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa which looked consistent started to falter in the business end of the tournament. The partnership scored 519 runs in 13 matches. But in the last four matches the pair has only contributed 57 runs. Gambhir has been consistent throughout the tournament so far scoring 457 runs in 13 matches. The Knight Riders captain has scored 5 half centuries that included a highest score of 90* against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Robin Uthappa has not been consistent like his captain scoring 358 runs in similar number of matches. According to Vijay Dahiya, who was the assistant coach of Knight Riders feel, “The opening partnership is not clicking as it has been in the beginning of the season. Manish Pandey has not been consistent at No. 3, while Shakib has not performed to the expectation. The off form of Shakib has put more pressure onYusuf Pathan this season.” Off form of Sunil Narine – The off form of Sunil Narine has been a huge factor in Knight Riders not doing well as a bowling unit. The mystery spinner has so far picked 8 wickets in 9 matches.  Ever since making a comeback into international cricket after he was cleared to bowl by the ICC in April, he has not been the same effective with his remodeled action. The off form of Narine has put pressures on the likes of Piyush Chawla, Brad Hogg and Shakib al Hasan. Russell blow – The absence of Andre Russell against Gujarat Lions was clearly evident as the Knights lacked the firepower lower down the order. The Jamaican have been successful both with the bat and ball before getting injured. He scored 188 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 164.91 and took 15 wickets with the best bowling of 20/4 against Kings XI Punjab.The Knight Riders received a huge blow as he injured himself in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. According to team management the Jamaican sustained a hamstring injury, which might force him not to take further part in the tournament. Team selection- The selection of the playing eleven has been very baffling to say the least. There has been too many changes in the playing eleven with the batting order not looking consistent. The team management resorted to too much experimentation with the batting order with Piyush Chawla being promoted in a couple of matches ahead of Shakib, Yusuf and Russell. Surya Kumar Yadav has also not been able to transform the starts he got and that has affected the team in not posting huge totals. Home advantage- Unlike the Eden Gardens strip, it has not favored the spinners. The Knight Riders, who are spin heavy feel extremely disappointed at how “spin-less” the Eden Gardens wicket has been in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). According to Shakib Al Hasan, “I can talk of myself and I would say yes, we are not getting the home advantage. We are a spin dependent team, so we always expect some assistance at home, from the strip at Eden,” Shakib said at the post-match media conference on Monday.