Surya Tamang hits 30-wicket milestone in group stage with a six-for against Lumbini

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 28: In one of the two matches of Day 15, Bagmati Province won its final group-stage match of the PM Cup Men’s National Cricket Tournament defeating Lumbini Province by six wickets at TU International Cricket Ground on Saturday. 

Surya Tamang was the hero for Bagmati once again as he claimed his second six-wicket haul in the tournament. With the sixth wicket against Lumbini, Tamang ended the group stage with a total of 30 wickets under his belt.

Earlier, Tamang took a six-for against Madhes in the team’s third group match and a five-for against Tribhuwan Army later. Tamang is followed by Sudur Pashchim’s Sher Malla (21 wickets in six matches) and Madhes’ Ranjit Kumar (19 wickets in eight matches). 

Electing to field first, Bagmati bundled out Lumbini in the 33rd over at 106 runs. Alongside six wickets by Tamang, Bipin Acharya bagged two and Krijan Gurung and Pratis GC took one each.

Nirmal Gurung stayed not out for Lumbini at 27 runs in 32 deliveries. Lumbini’s captain Sushant Thapa was the team’s highest scorer with 28 off 55. Only two others – Birat Bhandari (13 off 29) and Prajjwol Thapa (14 off 25) – scored in double figures for Lumbini.

On the other hand, Bagmati only lost four wickets to chase the target in 17.2 overs. Opener Ashutosh Ghiraiya, who has been dangerous in many matches, could not add runs to his heart’s content today as he departed in the fourth over at 14 runs off 11 deliveries. 

However, Ishan Pandey, who failed to perform in the previous matches, registered his first half-century in the edition before getting caught in the 17th over. Captain Rit Gautam also added 24 off 33. Rabin Joshi (7 off 4) stayed not out with Bipin Acharya (0 off 2) to win the match for Bagmati. 

Tamang and Ghiraiya, who currently has the most runs in the tournament, can continue to extend their achievements if Bagmati qualifies as one of the top four teams. Bagmati is currently in the second position with 12 points (six wins in nine matches) after completing its group-stage matches. With the other nine teams having a couple of games in hand, Bagmati’s chance for playoffs is still hanging by a thread.

Meanwhile, Armed Police Force (APF) Club defeated Gandaki Province by 88 runs in the second match of the day at Mulpani International 

Cricket Ground. Electing to field first, Gandaki bundled out APF in the 48th over at 207 runs. Opener Lokesh Bam got out after reaching the 50-run mark while Bhuvan Karki fell five runs short of his half-century for APF. Two other batsmen to score in double figures for APF were Puran BK (30 off 46) and Pradeep Airee (39 off 45).

Aasif Sheikh and captain Rohit Paudel only added 3 and 4 runs respectively.

Kamal Pariyar bagged three wickets while Bipin Khatri, Amrit Gurung and Sandeep Parajuli claimed two each.

Chasing the target of 208 with confidence, Amar Routela came as a nightmare for Gandaki as he took the wickets of the two openers – Ishwar Chhetri (28 off 30) and Sameer Kandel (33 off 64). Krish Ayer (1 off 6) and Amrit Gurung (0 off 4) were the other two victims of Routela.

Mousom Dhakal also bagged three wickets – Muskan Thapa (7 off 19), Chandra Paudel ( 1 off 12) and Sandeep Parajuli (golden duck) – alongside two wickets by Bhuvan Karki and one by Ramesh Kurmi to send 10 batsmen of Gandaki back to the pavilion at 119 runs in 33.4 overs. APF, which is in the sixth position with 8 points, will have to win its remaining two matches to keep its hope for the playoffs alive.