Atlanta Fire Blaze Toward Final, Stallions Keep Hopes Alive

On Day 4 of the 2025 Minor League Cricket playoffs, Atlanta Fire strengthened their position with a commanding victory, while the New Jersey Stallions bounced back to keep their campaign alive. With just one day of action remaining, Atlanta holds the edge thanks to their superior net run rate, but the Atlantic Conference race is still wide open heading into the final day at Morrisville’s Church Street Park.

Stallions Crush Cavaliers to Stay in Race
After a crushing blow by Baltimore Royals yesterday that ended their unbeaten streak this season, The New Jersey Stallions revived their campaign with a 6-wicket win over the NJ Somerset Cavaliers. Sachin Mylavarapu (14/3) and Nawab Singh (22/3) produced defining spells to bundle Cavaliers out for a below-par 130 in a crucial game.

Chasing 131, Stallions’ run-machine Saiteja Mukkamalla stole the show with another blazing half-century this season scoring 84 off 46 balls and hitting 9 massive sixes, including 4 consecutive ones in the final over of the chase to seal the victory in style.
Player of the Match: Saiteja Mukkamalla

Vintage Shakib Stars as Fire Crush Royals to Edge Closer
Atlanta Fire made it two from two with a thumping 91-run win over Baltimore Royals to make a strong case for the Final on Sunday. Batting first, they were powered by Rishi Pandey (66 off 49) and Paul Palmer (30 off 26), who shared an 83-run partnership for the second wicket, helping the Fire set up a strong total of 175/4 on board.

Renowned all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan got into rhythm just in right time for the Fire with both bat and ball. Following up his unbeaten late cameo of 30 from just 16 deliveries, the veteran left-hander carried over the momentum to his bowling, ending with remarkable figures of 6/3, including a wicket on the first delivery of the Royals’ chase. He was complemented superbly by Ansh Patel, whose 4 wickets for just 13 runs dismantled the Royals’ chase effectively as they collapsed to 84 all out in 14.1 overs, falling short by a huge margin of 91 runs.
Player of the Match: Shakib Al Hasan

Qualification Takeaways

• Atlanta Fire Favorites for Qualification: With 2 wins from 2 and a towering NRR of +4.175, they are in pole position to qualify for the Final.
• Stallions Still Alive: Their big win over Cavaliers lifted them to 2 points, but they must not only beat an in-form Atlanta Fire, but also do it in emphatic fashion to overturn the huge NRR gap.
• Royals on the Brink: Baltimore’s heavy defeat dented their NRR badly to leave them on the verge of elimination. Although highly unlikely, they can technically still qualify if they beat the Cavaliers by a high margin and rely on Atlanta Fire losing against Stallions by a big enough margin to gain NRR superiority.
• Cavaliers Out: Though they face Royals tomorrow for their third game, two straight losses mean the New Jersey Cavaliers are out of the equation for the Final rendering their final game a dead rubber.

Playoffs Conclusion – Saturday, October 4
As the playoffs action concludes tomorrow at the Church Street Park in Morrisville, NC , the following two matches will decide which team joins Chicago Kingsmen in the Championship Final on Sunday:

• 2:00 PM – Baltimore Royals vs NJ Somerset Cavaliers
• 6:00 PM – Atlanta Fire vs New Jersey Stallions