Nepal Police, Lumbini, Madhes start PM Cup Men’s National Cricket with wins

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 14: Nepal Police, Madhes Province and Lumbini Province started their PM Cup Men’s National Cricket Tournament 2024 campaign with wins as one of the biggest domestic cricket leagues kicked off in three venues – two in Kathmandu and one in Rupandehi – on Saturday.

Nepal Police defeated Bagmati Province by 68 runs at the TU International Cricket Ground thanks to Rashid Khan’s century and two wickets. Rashid entered the pitch when Nepal Police was at 5-72 after electing to bat first. With Aarif, who got out at 40.5 overs after scoring 57 off 66 balls, Rashid took the team to 192. With nine fours and six sixes, Rashid remained not out at 106 (112 balls) with Sagar Dhakal as the 50 overs of the first inning came to an end with 282 runs on the board. Rijan Dhakal and Surya Tamang claimed three wickets each for Bagmati. 

Sagar Dhakal was the highest wicket-taker for Police with three. Karan KC, Rashid Khan and captain Dipendra Singh Airee took two wickets each as the team bowled out Bagmati at 214 runs in 42.3 overs. 

Bagmati was in with a chance as long as Ashutosh Ghiraiya was at the crease. Opening batsman Ghiraiya was caught by Dilip Nath at 37.2 overs in the bowl of Airee after falling only eight runs short of a century. Ghiraiya hit nine fours and four sixes to reach 92 runs in 87 balls.

Nepal Police proved its bowling line-up strong as it was the only team to elect to bat first. The morning weather was favourable for the fielding side, yet Police batted first and bowled when the pitch started favouring the batting side in the afternoon. Madhes and Lumbini had elected to bowl first after winning the toss in their respective matches. 

In another opening match of the campaign at Mulpani International Cricket Ground, Madhes won against Koshi by seven wickets. Madhes had 179 balls to spare as they chased the target of 128 runs in the loss of only three wickets.

Electing to bowl first, Madhes’ bowlers bowled out Koshi in 41 overs with only two batsmen scoring in two digits. Koshi’s captain Ankit Subedi and vice-captain Firdosh Ansari scored 40 and 41 runs respectively. Pradip Paswan took three wickets while Rajesh Yadav, Ranjit Kumar and Pawan Sarraf claimed two each for Madhes.

Chasing a low target, the opening partnership of Madhes’ captain Harishankar Sah and wicketkeeper-batsman Anil Sah was almost enough to begin the team’s campaign with a win. Harishankar was caught in the bowl of Sujan Thapaliya at 12.1 overs and departed at 24 off 33. Madhes was at 83 in the loss of the first wicket. 

Mayan Yadav tried playing a supportive inning as Anil was taking the helm; however, he was struck leg before by Sonu Mandal leaving Madhes at 103/2 in 15.2 overs. Meanwhile, unable to finish the match himself, Anil departed after being caught behind by Mandal in 17.3 overs. Anil hit 14 fours and three sixes to score 88 runs at a strike rate of 162.96.

Niraj Yadav scored a four in the first ball of Firdosh in the 21st over to take Madhes to 129 runs and win the match.

Likewise, in a game reduced to 42 overs each due to bad weather, Lumbini grabbed a win in front of its home crowd at Bhairahawa Cricket Ground defeating Gandaki by seven wickets. Gandaki had 82 balls to spare.

Lumbini’s wicketkeeper-captain Sushant Thapa elected to bowl first and the decision proved correct as Gandaki was bowled out at 111 runs in 34.4 overs. Ajay Chauhan’s five-wicket haul was one of the most impressive stats of the day. Chauhan only gave 16 runs in 8.4 overs with two maidens. Karan Pangeni’s disciplined batting to score 28 runs off 62 balls was the highest score for Gandaki.

Lumbini started the chase of 112 runs decently as the first wicket fell off in the 11th over at 33 runs. Bipin Khatri took the first wicket for Gandaki and sent two more Lumbini batsmen back to the pavilion in his spell of nine overs. Kamal Pariyar took the remaining three wickets, but Lumbini’s batsmen were able to reach the target at 28.2 overs.

Bagmati is playing its second match of the campaign on Sunday at the TU Cricket Ground against Nepal APF Club. While Karnali and Gandaki will face each other in Bhairahawa, there is no match at Mulpani on January 14.