Kathmandu, March 28
Nepal APF Club and Koshi Province advanced to the final of the Lalitpur Mayor Women's Championship as an unbeaten team here at the TU Stadium today.
APF defeated Lalitpur Mayor's XI by 37 runs for their fourth straight victory, while Koshi beat Madhesh Province by 62 runs in the final league round match. Unbeaten APF accumulated a maximum eight points, while Koshi finished second in the table with six points Batting first, APF posted 110-6 in their allotted 20 overs before restricting Mayor for 73-8. Except for skipper Sita Rana Magar, other top order batters failed to fire in the match. Rana Magar scored 19 off 16 balls with the help of three boundaries.
Rajmati Airee and Binu Budha added 43 runs for the sixth wicket to take the team to three figures. Player-of-the-match Airee struck four fours in her 52-ball 41, while Budha scored 12 off 16 balls. Seemana KC (2-16) and Shrishti Jaisi (2-19) shared four wickets between them for Mayor, while Sony Pakhrin and Manisha Upadhyay grabbed one wicket each.
In reply, Mayor-XI batters failed to build partnerships and only three players could score in double figures. Sony Pakhrin top scored with 15 off 19 balls, while Laxmi Chaudhary and Seemana KC contributed 10 runs each. Player-of-the-match Airee returned to take 2-7 for APF, while Binu Budha grabbed 2-9. Indu Budha, skipper Sita Rana Magar and Sushma Shrestha pocketed one wicket each.
In another match, Koshi scored 105-6 in their allotted 20 overs and they restricted Madhesh to 43-9.
Koshi openers Kajal Shrestha and Rubina Chhetry put up 40 runs in 8.3 overs. Shrestha was the first to be dismissed for 28-ball 22 that included four boundaries.
Skipper Chhetry then combined with Apsari Begam to add 36 runs for the second wicket. Chhetry top scored with 39 off 38 balls that included six boundaries, while Begam scored 32-ball 19 hitting a four. Smriti Katuwal (10) also scored in double figures. Amiisha Patel (2-12), Amiran Nisha (2-13) and Santoshi Chaudhary (2-22) shared six wickets among them for Madhesh.
In reply, Madhesh lost openers Alisha Yadav and Anuradha Chaudhary without scoring their accounts and they never recovered. Saraswati Kumari was the lone batter to reach double figure mark scoring 17-ball 10, while Amiran Nisha (eight not out) and Sana Praveen (eight) were the next best batters.
Skipper Rubina Chhetry, Alisha Khadiya and Nisha Shah took two wickets each for Koshi, while Sabnam Rai grabbed one wicket.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 29, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
