Successive win for Chitwan Rhinos, repeated loss for Biratnagar Kings

By a staff reporter,Kathmandu, Dec. 4: Chitwan Rhinos registered a consecutive win in the Nepal Premier League (NPL) after defeating Pokhara Avengers at the second match of Tuesday in TU International Cricket Ground. Biratnagar Kings, on the other hand, faced another loss, this time to Sudurpaschim Royals.

Chitwan had won their first match against Kathmandu Gurkhas on Monday while Biratnagar had suffered their first defeat against Janakpur Bolts in the NPL opener on November 30.

Biratnagar had made two changes to their squad against Sudurpaschim compared to the playing XI against Janakpur. Jitendra Mukhiya and Aqib Ilyas were benched while Dipak Bohara and Ismat Alam replaced them against Sudurpaschim.

However, Biratnagar could not benefit from the two new faces.

Biratnagar had elected to field first after winning the toss as there was an assumption that the morning condition was supportive to bowlers. But Sudurpaschim, playing their first game of the NPL, put an end to the assumption.

Batting first, Sudurpaschim was struggling until the 13th over as they had lost half of their batting line up. When Brandon McMullen (36 off 26) departed as the fifth wicket in 12.4 overs, Sudurpaschim was at 89/5.

Until then, Amit Shrestha, Binod Bhandari, Aarif Sheikh and Saif Zaib had departed for 1 off 5, 23 off 20, 9 off 5 and 14 off 15 respectively. 

Nevertheless, in-at-six and seven, Ishan Pandey and skipper Dipendra Singh Airee turned the tides for their team. While Ishan did not score a lot, he gave a momentum to the team. With two fours and a six, Ishan added 21 off 16 before departing in 16.5 overs leaving the team at 138/6.

Meanwhile, Dipendra, world’s second best all-rounder in T20Is, played a captain’s knock. He scored the fastest half-century of the NPL, in 23 deliveries, and stayed not out at 57 off 24 (3 fours, 5 sixes) and helped his team post the target of 183 runs to Biratnagar.

Anil Kharel bagged three wickets while Basir Ahamad, Ismat Alam and Chris Sole took one each. Pratish GC and Sandeep Lamichhane were wicket-less. 

All the hopes for Biratnagar in the chase had ended as soon as Martin Guptill departed for a golden duck in the first over. Biratnagar was bundled out in 16.1 overs for a paltry 92 runs as Sudur registered their first win in the NPL by 90 runs.

Only three batsmen scored in double figures for Biratnagar – Rajesh Pulami (15 off 15), Basir Ahamad (24 off 28) and Anil Kharel (10 off 11).

Pacers Abinash Bohara and Scott Kuggeleijn bagged three wickets each for Sudurpaschim while McMullen, Zaib and Pandey took one each.

Chitwan’s second win

While Sudurpaschim was able to register a win in their NPL debut, Pokhara Avengers could not. They lost to Chitwan Rhinos in a devastating fashion.

Chasing a decent target of 162 runs, Pokhara was once struggling to reach the double figures in their total. 

Sohail Tanvir, who took a fifer in the first game against Kathmandu, opened his spell with a wicket in the very first delivery. His victim was Kushal Bhurtel, who went for a golden duck. 

Sohail did not slow down after the first relief but went on to take two more wickets in the first over leaving Pokhara at 4/3. Pokhara then lost three more wickets in the fourth over bowled by pacer Rijan Dhakal. Dhakal took the wickets of Dinesh Kharel, Kiran Thagunna and Michael Leask. 

Thanks to Marcus Critchley (17 off 16) and Narayan Joshi (30 off 24) that Pokhara was able to reach 74 runs. 

Luc Benkenstein bagged three more and Deepak Bohara took one as Chitwan bundled Pokhara in 13.2 overs.

Ravi Bopara, with a half-century, was the highest scorer for Chitwan with 51 off 38. Skipper Kushal Malla also did well with the bat as he contributed 38 off 23 for Chitwan.

Chitwan will now return to action after a gap of two days on December 6, but Biratnagar will play their third game on Wednesday. 

Biratnagar faces Lumbini Lions, the only team remaining to debut in the NPL, in the second match of Wednesday after the confrontation between Karnali Yaks and Kathmandu Gurkhas.