Departmental derby to decide who will lift Jay Trophy

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 13: Six games between four teams in a two-day format concluded on Sunday with Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) and Nepal Police Club (NPC) defeating Madhesh Province and Bagmati Province in the final two matches played in Birgunj and Janakpur respectively. With the wins, the two departmental clubs progressed to the final, which will be played across a three-day format at Narayani Cricket Ground, Birgunj, from January 14 to 16.

Army won by eight wickets and Police emerged victorious by five wickets as the duo chased their respective targets on Day 2. 

The Narayani Cricket Ground saw Army batting first on Day 1 (Saturday, Jan. 11) and, with half-centuries from Bhim Sharki and Basir Ahamad, declaring at 225/9 in 59.3 overs. But Madhesh’ batting order collapsed in the first inning with Army’s Shahab Alam bagging a six-wicket haul; Madhes were bundled out at 102 runs in 35.5 overs.

Leading by 123 runs, Army gave a follow-on to recently bowled out Madhesh with their openers having time to face only the first over of the second inning on Day 1. The team batting first can enforce the follow-on if it gains a lead of 75 or more runs in a two-day match; the follow-on margin is 100 runs in the final (three-day match).

Madhesh had changed the batting order in the follow-on and the team scored more compared to the first; however, it was insufficient. Mayan Yadav, the leading run scorer and the only centurion in the tournament fell short of his second half-century in the Jay Trophy, but other Madhesh batsmen did not score enough but batted their way through to have Army bat and chase. But with only 28 runs required to win, it took Army only six overs to register the win by eight wickets. 

On the other hand, Bagmati posted 112 runs batting first on Day 1 against Police thanks to opener Ishan Pandey (71 off 94), who got out while preventing the ball from hitting the stumps with his hand. 

In response, Amit Shrestha (79 off 97) and Arjun Saud (77 off 82) helped Police to 215 runs by the time the team was bundled out in 45.5 overs. Bagmati began the second inning on Day 1 with a trail of 103 runs and faced four overs before Stumps with eight runs on the board.

Police did not have an easy way out against Bagmati like Army did with Madhes on Day 2. Two half-centuries by Rit Gautam (52 off 93) and Shubh Kansakar (70 off 74) and average contributions from the lower order took Bagmati to 218 runs before getting all out in 53 overs.

“Red-ball cricket has a great history behind its back, so it was a pleasure playing in this tournament. We did not get the result we wanted but, overall, this tournament is a good start for all of us,” Sandeep Lamichhane, Bagmati’s skipper, said in the post-match.

Police, in the second inning, had to chase 116 runs to defeat Bagmati, and Amit Shrestha scored his second half-century of the match to ensure his team won. Shrestha got out at 56 off 45 in 18.3 overs leaving Police’s score at 108/4. Saud and Prem Tamang ran for the final run and the duo stayed not out at 20 off 38 and 1 off 10 to win the game by five wickets.

 “Janakpur wicket was better for batters and tougher for bowlers. We wanted to chase the target soon so I approached aggressively in Birgunj, where the wicket was also good, as well,” said Kushal Bhurtel, captain of Police in the absence of Aarif Sheikh.

According to Bhurtel, Police will now look forward to the final. “Army is also a good opponent, so we will start preparing for it,” he added.