KATHMANDU, MARCH 9
Bagmati Province stunned Nepal APF Club by 37 runs, while Nepal Police Club recorded a three-wicket victory against Tribhuvan Army Club in the Kathmandu Mayor's Cup Cricket Tournament today.
At the TU Stadium, Bagmati posted 233-6 in 50 overs riding on half centuries from skipper Gyanendra Malla and Nandan Yadav before Sonu Devkota rattled the APF batting lineup to pack them for 206 with 31 balls to spare.
Yadav top scored with an unbeaten 60 off 57 balls that included seven fours and two sixes, while Malla struck seven boundaries in his 84-ball 57.
Aadil Khan scored 34 off 44 balls with the help of four fours, while Ishan Pandey hit three fours in his 42-ball 31. Paras Khadka struck two fours and a six in his 29 off 37 balls.
Kishore Mahato and Amar Routela took two wickets each, while Abinash Bohara and Basant Regmi grabbed one each for APF.
In reply, seven APF batsmen scored in double figures but only Aasif Sheikh was able to make significant contribution to the total. Sheikh scored a quick fire 50 off 38 balls that included seven fours and two sixes.
Shankar Rana was the next best contributor scoring 58- ball 29, while Routela hit one each four and six in his 27.
Sundeep Jora scored 23-ball 25, while Bhuvan Karki (14), Basant Regmi (11) and Kishore Mahato (11) also touched double digits.
Man-of-the-match Devkota was the pick of the Bagmati bowlers taking 6-41, while Ramnaresh Giri and Ariyo Poudel grabbed two wickets each.
In a low-scoring match at the Mulpani grounds, Sahab Alam took seven wickets but failed to avert TAC's defeat at the hands of NPC. TAC were bowled out for a paltry 87 runs in 30.1 overs before NPC reached 90-7 with 189 balls remaining.
Electing to bat first, TAC batsmen faltered with No 8 Lokesh Bam top scoring with 24-ball 32 that included two fours and three sixes. Bikram Sob (14) and Rohit Poudel (13) were the two other TAC batsmen to reach double figure mark. Sagar Dhakal claimed 5-40 for NPC and he was ably supported by Pawan Sarraf (3- 14) and Lalit Rajbanshi (2-16).
In reply, NPC suffered a middle-order collapse losing four wickets for 10 runs before they hung on to chase down the low target. Opener Sunil Dhamala scored 39 off 48 balls hitting three fours and two sixes, while man-of-the-match Pawan Sarraf struck three boundaries and a six in his unbeaten 22 off 26 balls. Dilip Nath hit one each four and six in his 13-ball 15. Alam returned with 7-45 from nine overs but his efforts went in vain.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 10, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
