Seven win in a row for Police

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Mar. 21: Defending champion Nepal Police Club strengthened their top position with a seventh consecutive victory at the PM Cup Men's National Cricket Tournament on Thursday. Karnali Province recorded a nail-biting 5-run victory over Lumbini Province for their third win in the event.

Police defeated Bagmati Province by 93 runs at Extra Tech Oval, Bhairahawa. With the win, Police earned 14 points and took a four-point lead over second-placed Tribhuvan Army Club.

Chasing a target of 298 runs, Bagmati were restricted to 204 runs in 45.2 overs. Opener Ishan Pandey top-scored with 70 runs off 98 balls for Bagmati. Shubh Kansakar smashed three boundaries and two sixes in his cameo of 36 runs off 28 balls. The 70-run partnership between Shubh and Ishan was the biggest for Bagmati. Though other batters contributed with decent scores, the lack of good partnerships cost Bagmati the match.

Bipin Acharya (20), Surya Tamang (17), Pratis GC (14), Ashutosh Ghiraiya (12), and Rijan Dhakal (10) were the other scorers for Bagmati.

Lalit Rajbanshi continued to shine with the ball as he did most of the damage to Bagmati’s batting lineup, picking up four wickets for 34 runs. This brought his wicket tally to 30 in the PM Cup. Kushal Bhurtel also dismissed three Bagmati batters. Karan KC took two wickets, while Gulshan Jha claimed one in Bagmati's collapse.

Earlier, Police elected to bat first and posted 297/8, the highest total of the tournament, in 50 overs. The previous highest total was 288 runs, achieved twice by Police and once by Bagmati.

In scoring the big total, Kushal Bhurtel and Dipendra Airee smashed half-centuries. Opener Kushal scored 88 runs off 98 balls for his third fifty of the tournament. He hit 11 boundaries and surpassed 1,000 runs in the PM Cup. With 1,041 runs, Bhurtel is ranked seventh on the all-time top scorers' list in the PM Cup. Binod Bhandari, captain of the Tribhuvan Army Club, leads the list with 1,375 runs, followed by Police Club's Dipendra Singh Airee with 1,247 runs in second place. Madhes's Anil Sah (1,162), Police's Aarif Sheikh (1,071), APF Club's Aasif Sheikh (1,070), and APF’s captain Rohit Paudel (1,065) follow in third to sixth place, respectively.

Dipendra Airee hit four boundaries and three sixes in his quick-fire 60 runs off 46 balls. Opener Amit Shrestha fell two runs short of his fifty, hitting five fours and a six in his 51-ball innings. Amit and Kushal put on a 124-run stand for the opening wicket. Aarif Sheikh, who added 38 runs off 46 balls, partnered with Airee for a 92-run stand.

Pratis GC was the pick of the bowlers for Bagmati, taking three wickets.

In another match, third-placed Lumbini suffered their third defeat as they failed to chase a 206-run target set by Karnali at Siddharthanagar.

Electing to bat first, Karnali scored 205 runs, losing all their wickets in 48.5 overs. Arjun Gharti and Dipendra Rawat produced half-century knocks to help Karnali cross 200 runs. Gharti hit three fours and two sixes in his knock of 56 runs off 84 balls. Rawat achieved his fifty with a total of 66 runs off 84 balls.

Other double-digit scorers for Karnali were Sunil Dhamala (19), Nishal Rawal (11), Bipin Rawal (10), and Dinesh Adhikari (16).

Ramesh Kurmi took three wickets, while Nirmal Gurung, Ajay Chauhan, and Biprason KC claimed two wickets each for Lumbini. In the run chase, Prajjwol Thapa steadied Lumbini's batting with 84 runs from 107 balls. However, his efforts were not enough as Lumbini fell five runs short of victory. Captain Dev Khanal contributed 40 runs, while Manish Thapa (16) and Aakash Tripathi (21) also added to the total. The lower order failed to contribute, and Lumbini were bundled out with two balls to spare.

Karnali’s bowling duo, Dinesh Adhikari and Dipendra Rawat, did most of the damage, taking three wickets each.