[caption id="attachment_43904" align="aligncenter" width="580"]unnamed (56) KKR cricketers in a promotional event in Kolkata. Image Source: XtraTime[/caption] Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders batting maestro Manish Pandey on Thursday backed his fellow teammate Yusuf Pathan and said he will definitely play well in the upcoming matches as the two time Indian Premier League champions just need a win from three matches to qualify for the play-offs. Pathan’s bad patch is definitely hurting his team as the Kolkata based outfit has lost their last two matches in the cash-rich league and according to Manish the team is heavily depending on Yusuf to play a match-winning knock in the upcoming matches. "We all know Yusuf is a match-winner. He has won many matches for KKR. It happens sometimes that many of your batsmen do not get going. We also are waiting for him to come out with a big knock and win the match for us, like he always does," Pandey said at a promotional event here. KKR’s inform batsman Robin Uthappa didn’t play the last match against Rising Pune Supergiant as he had suffered a hamstring injury during their match against Delhi Daredevils. The top order batsman has returned to his home in Bengaluru as KKR will play their next match on May 7 against Royal Challengers Bengalore. According to Kolkata team management Uthappa is feeling better now and they are hoping that he will be available for the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Yusuf has been quiet so far and looked out of sorts in the last two matches where he scored 4 and 12 as KKR lost to Hyderabad and Pune in successive matches. "It's about playing really well on the given day. We are just focusing on our basics to win the remaining games from here," Pandey said. KKR still occupy the second place with 14 points from 11 matches and Pandey hopes they can still finish in top-two. "We will play every game like the way we started the tournament. It's about doing well in the departments we have been doing well. We have been consistent for four years. We are just one win away from qualifying so our focus as of now is only that." On the mood in the camp, Pandey said: "Obviously there are not many happy faces after losing two games in a row. But it's part of the game. We have discussed this in the team meeting also. "We had some plans which obviously did not work for us. But if you see our performance as a whole, we have been doing well. "It's just a matter of posting one win and qualify. We are looking forward to that. I'm pretty sure we are going to do that and finish in top-two.

IPL 2017: Pandey confident of Pathan striking form