Gaurav powers Agni Air to easy victory

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Agni Air and Everest Challengers got off to winning starts in the Wai Wai Corporate Premier League Twenty20 Tournament here at the TU Stadium today.

Gaurav Jain’s explosive knock helped Agni cruise to a 42-run win over Chaudhary Group, while earlier in the first match Everest Challengers overcame Global Bank by 21 runs.

Gaurav’s innings was the highlight of the day as he hammered a 42-ball 75 that saw Agni pile up a mammoth 210-5. Though Chaudhary Group batsmen got into the runs, their innings finally folded at 168-7 in 20 overs. Man-of-the match Gaurav struck 14 boundaries and one six, while Rahul Bansal played a cameo of 12-ball 34 with three sixes and two fours.

Prajwol Shrestha hit four fours and a six in his 31-ball 32 and Bikesh Tamang (14) also made runs in double figures. Shivaraj Tiwari picked up four wickets for Chaudhary Group.

Rabindra Jain did most of the damage in Chaudhary Group’s reply, returning with an economical figures of 2-22 in four overs. Ram Rawal also picked up two wickets for Agni. Sushil Karmacharya top scored for Chaudhary Group with 36 from 21 balls that included five fours and a six. Uddhab Khadka made 34 off 27 with six hits to the fence, while Narendra Jaiswal (25) and Raj Joshi (24) hit four boundaries each.

Earlier, Everest Challengers made a defendable 143-5 with valuable contributions from Om Karmacharya and Rabin Thapaliya before they restricted Global Bank to 122-8. Arun Chand (2-12) and Rabin Thapaliya (2-14) halted Global Bank’s proceedings conceding only 26 runs in their eight overs. Niroj Pandey made an unbeaten run-a-ball 29, while Ganesh Pal was Global Bank’s next best contributor with 28 runs from 33 deliveries.

In Everest Challengers’ innings, Om made a 50-ball 45 with five fours and Rabin struck a 21-ball 31 with four boundaries and a six. Both batsmen returned unbeaten. Narendra Chand also made valuable contribution hammering seven fours and in his 32-ball 42. Sagar Bahadur Singh picked up three wickets for Global Bank.

On Wednesday, Nepal Telecom will play Private Public Partner and You We Rangers will take on Max Media.