AUK Last Five Matches: NR W L W W (Avg Score For 94, Avg Score Against 96)
AUM Last Five Matches: L L NR W W (Avg Score For 96, Avg Score Against 79)
Captain: Sujesh Appu
Wicketkeeper: Sachin Saddham
Projected Top Four: Ciril Mathew, Basil George, Al Ameen Abdul, Justin Shaju
Projected Opening Bowlers: Sujesh Appu, Justin Shaju
Spin Options: Samuel Stanislaus
ATLAS UTC KNIGHTS Key Players:
Basil George, powerhouse of AUK, has the ability to smash all around the park, hammered 196 runs at a strike rate of 192 in December 2020.
Justin Shaju, one to watch with the ball, can swing the ball around at a decent pace, picked up seven wickets in the previous edition with best figures of 3-24. Looked sharp with the ball picking up a wicket and conceding at just over six runs an over also mustered 37 runs with the bat.
Ciril Mathew, right-handed top order batsman who looked at ease with the bat on Monday scoring 38 runs from two games.
Bose Paul, big hitting all-rounder, didn't get to bat much previously but finished as leading wicket taker for AUK with nine scalps from 10 matches, started well with the ball on Monday picking up three wickets.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF MALTA (AUM)
Captain: Jit Patel
Wicketkeeper: Darshit Patankar
Projected Top Four: Amandeep Ralhan, Darshit Patankar, Zoheb Malek, Kalki Kumar
Projected Opening Bowlers: Shubh Patel, Jit Patel
Spin Options: Tarak Shah, Zoheb Malek
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF MALTA Key Players:
Zoheb Malek impressed with 201 runs at the last edition, scoring nearly three times as many runs as any of his teammates. He also picked up four wickets. The No.4 of AUM looked solid racking up 42 runs from two matches.
Darshit Patankar, the wicket-keeper batsman mustered 55 runs from two games including an unbeaten fifty at a strike rate of 203. Looked in sublime form and is a must have in your fantasy team.
Shubh Patel, the 25-year old fast bowler was leading wicket taker for AUM last season picking up eight wickets from seven matches. Started the season on a high picking up three wickets in the first game.
Saneesh Kumar, a young, talented opening batsman, has the capability to turn things around after an average last season, started off brightly scoring 50 runs from two matches including an unbeaten 41 off 22 balls earning a man of the match award as well.
Both these teams started off their campaign winning back-to-back matches on Monday. AUM showed huge improvement from last year while AUK looked a bit rusty in their first game, barely sneaking past SOC on a Golden Ball finish. That said, AUK are still favourites to clinch this double header considering their performances in the previous edition, when going unbeaten in the group stages.
Last time they met: AUK 68(9.3) def AUM 67 (25 Nov 2020)
Match Prediction: Atlas UTC Knights (AUK) to trump AUM again.