CAG vs KEL 22nd Match Prediction

CAG vs KEL Team Previews

Chandigarh

Chandigarh was off to a great start in this edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. They won their first couple of games against Bihar and Sikkim but then they had to endure a loss against Himachal Pradesh in their next encounter. Batting first, in this Group B, day/night affair, Chandigarh succeeded in putting up a score of 138 runs on the board for the loss of 9 wickets from their quota of 20 overs. This moderate score was chased easily by the Himachal Pradesh batters in 17.2 overs for the loss of 4 wickets.

The Chandigarh innings got off to a modest start with none of the batters succeeding in hitting a fifty in the game. The highest score attained by any Chandigarh batter in this game was a 38 from Gaurav Puri. Arun Azad also scored 28 runs in the game from 18 balls with 2 sixes and 1 four. The Himachal Pradesh bowlers have done a good restriction job on the Chandigarh batters with their spinners Akash Vasisht and Mukul Negi picking up a couple of wickets each. Although the Chandigarh bowlers, on the other hand, did not do too badly, their efforts were not enough to restrict the opposition to a score below the target.

The Himachal innings got off to a great start with Ekant Sen carrying his bat throughout with a 70-run contribution from 51 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes. The only Chandigarh bowler that impressed everyone was Bhagmender Lather who picked up 3 wickets for 33 runs from his quota of 4 overs. The only other successful bowler for Chandigarh in this game was Akash Sudan who picked up a solitary scalp for 18 runs in his 2 overs. Murugan Ashwin also bowled economically and gave away just 22 runs from his 4 overs.  

Kerala Knights

Kerala Knights is going into this game with 3 victories in 3 matches of this year's SMAT. They have succeeded in beating Himachal Pradesh, Services, and Bihar in their first 3 games. they are also leading the charts in the points tally at the moment in Group B. Kerala played their last encounter in the competition with Bihar yesterday in a game that was played at the same venue as this. Batting first, Bihar scored 111 runs all out from their quota of overs. The Kerala team chased this target in 13 overs for the loss of 4 wickets to register yet another emphatic win.

The Kerala bowlers did an exemplary job with the ball with all the bowlers used managing to pick up wickets. But the peak of these bowlers in this game was Basil Thampi and KM Asif who picked up 2 wickets each. Both these bowlers were also economical in their spell. This is good news for Kerala going into this big game against Chandigarh. Thampi and Asif conceded just 19 and 15 runs respectively in their spells. All other bowlers contributed to the team's cause. They included Abdul Basith, Sijokon Joseph, Shreya Gopal, and Vinod Kumar.

Even though Kerala lost an early wicket to Mohammed Azharuddeen, the remaining top and middle-order batting was in good nick. Rohan Kunnummal scored 36 runs from 27 balls with 2 sixes and 3 fours before he was run out. Vishnu Rathod also contributed 32 runs from 17 balls with 2 sixes and 4 fours. Abdul Basith also did an excellent job with the bat scoring 39 not out from 23 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. It turned out to be a comfortable win for Kerala in the end with as many as 7 overs to spare.