APF down Armymen, lift PM Cup

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Nov 13: Armed Police Force (APF) has been crowned the title of the 5th PM Cup One Day National Cricket Tournament after the team defeated Tribhuvan Army Club by four wickets in the departmental derby held at T.U International Cricket Stadium, Kritipur, Kathmandu on Saturday.

APF lifted the title of the PM Cup One Day National Cricket Tournament title for the second time. Earlier, APF bagged the title of the 2nd PM Cup in 2018 beating the Armymen by seven wickets in the title clash.

Tribhuvan Army Club entered the final beating Nepal Police Club by two wickets in the second semi-finals last Friday and Armed Police Force (APF) thrashed Madhesh Province by seven wickets in the first semi-final held on last Thursday. 

The visibility at T.U International Cricket Ground was poor in the deciding overs of the match, but the match referees Sanjay Gurung and Vinay Kumar made a decision to complete the match even in the poor visibility in the ground because of late match.

Nepal Police Club skipper Dipendra Singh Airee dominated the individual prizes as he bagged the Player of the Tournament and Best Batter of the Tournament titles. He received Rs. 70,000 in cash prize. Similarly, Karan KC of Nepal Police Club claimed Best Bowler of the Tournament award and Mousom Dhakal of APF was declared an Emerging Player of the tournament.

APF needed one run from the 10 balls and skipper Vesawkar sealed the match by scoring the winning run for his team. APF chased the target of 180 runs in 38.3 overs in the nine balls in the spare. The title clash between APF and TAC was reduced to 40 overs due to the delay in the toss.

The middle order batter Bhuvan Karki hit a half-century, the highest individual score for the winning side. He scored 55 runs off 82 balls that included four boundaries and a single six while Sumit Maharjan came 34 runs off 45 balls that included five boundaries and Opener Pradeep Airee scored 20 runs off 28 balls that included four boundaries. Bhuvan Karki was declared the Player of theMatch for his 55 runs off 82 balls against Army men in the final.

Similarly, Sundeep Jora scored 17 runs off 23 balls while skipper Sharad Vesawkar contributed an unbeaten 16 runs off 19 balls and opener Aasif Sheikh scored 14 runs in the APF victory.

Jitendra Mukhiya grabbed two wickets while Sushan Bhari, Bikram Sob and Sompal Kami took one wicket apiece for victim Army men in the final. Armed Police Force (APF) dominated in bowling as they dismissed Army men at the minimum 179 runs. Mousom Dhakal and Amar Routela alone claimed three wickets apiece and Kishore Mahato contributed two wickets for the winning side.

Earlier, opting to bat first, the Armymen scored 179 runs with the loss of all wickets in the 39 overs in the allocated 40 overs match.

The Armymen made a poor start as their opener Sompal Kami went back without scoring and his opening partner Arjun Saud was back to the pavilion when the team's score was only 13 runs. 

Rohit Paudel scored the highest 49 runs off 56 balls that included three boundaries while Jitendra Mukhiya hit an unbeaten 24 runs off 25 balls and Sushan Bhari added 19 runs off 25 balls.

Rajesh Pulami scored 18 runs off 31 balls while Kushal Malla scored 16 runs off 14 balls and skipper Binod Bhandari scored 11 runs off 15 balls. The title winner APF bagged Rs. 1 million while runner-up Tribhuvan Army Club was satisfied with Rs. 500,000.