Skipper Paras Khadka came up with his brutal best but missed out on a century by one run as Vishal Warriors beat Sagarmatha Legends by 25 runs in the Wai Wai Everest Premier League on Monday.

Put in to bat first, Khadka led from the front to lift Warriors from a sluggish start to guide his team to 174-4 in 20 overs. The national team skipper hit 45-ball 99 in an innings studded with 10 sixes and two boundaries. Opener Sunil Dhamala gave a perfect reply in Legends’ chase but his heroic effort went in vain as his team was restricted to 149-5 in 20 overs.

The day belonged to Khadka who mercilessly attacked Legends bowlers after openers Sagar Pun (13) and Paresh Lohani (nine) failed to give a desired start. Khadka shared a defining 131-run stand for the third wicket with Suraj Kurmi, who was a good ally to his skipper making a 40-ball 30 with a six and a four.

Khadka completed his half century of 22 balls before falling to Rupesh Srivastav in 18th over while launching the medium pacer for a third six in the over. Khadka, however, had no regret on failing to complete a rare century in domestic Twenty20 game. “I was not looking at the scoreboard. If I was aware that of my score, I would have taken a single to complete a century. There were just two overs left in the game and I was trying to hit every ball,” said Khadka.

Legends didn’t have best of the start as they lost opener Sandeep Sunar (4) with six runs on the board. Dhamala built the innings with Anil Mandal (15) but with the asking rate climbing, he couldn’t help much. Dhamala scored 87 off 60 balls with his class innings including six fours and five sixes.

Mehboob Alam was unbeaten on 27 off 13 with two sixes and as many boundaries. Sushan Bhari Shrestha took 2-20 from three overs for Warriors. It was second back-to-back defeat for Legends whose chances of making it to the final looks bleak.

Tez crush X-Factor

KATHMANDU: Skipper Sharad Vesawkar put an all round display as Pancha-kanya Tez beat Colors X-Factor by 34 runs to record their second straight win of the Wai Wai Everest Premier League on Monday.

Tez rode on a half century from Aasif Sheikh to reach 154-3 in 20 overs. Vesawkar, who had earlier made 40, returned to pick up three crucial wickets including that of captain Gyanendra Malla to restrict X-Factor for just 120 runs.

Karan KC also took three wickets for Tez. Himanshu Dutta top scored with 28 runs from 25 balls with a six. Earlier, it was Sheikh who gave a perfect start to Tez adding 51 runs for the first wicket with Sanjay Shrestha (21). Sheikh added another 83 runs with Vesawkar before losing his wicket for 67 off 60 with five fours and two sixes. Vesawkar made 40 off 39 with two fours and a six. (PR)

Points table

Teams   P             W           L              NR          Pts          NRR

Panchakanya Tej              2              2              -              -              4              +1.134

Kantipur Gurkhas             2              1              -              1              3              +2.133

Vishal Warriors  2              1              -              1              3              +1.250

Jagdamba Rhinos             1              -              1              -              0              -0.550

Colors X-Factors               1              -              1              -              0              -1.700

Sagarmatha Legends      2              -              2              -              0              -1.718

Summary

Vishal Warriors 174-4 in 20 overs (P Khadka 99, S Kurmi 30*; R Shrivastav 2-40, B Sob 1-18) beat Sagarmatha Legends 149-5 in 20 overs (S Dhamala 87, M Alam 27*; S Bhari 2-20, D Khatri 1-19) by 25 runs

Man-of-the-match: P Khadka

Panchakanya Tez 154-3 in 20 overs (A Sheikh 67, S Vesawkar 40; A Karn 1-25, S Regmi 1-17) beat Colors X-Factor 120-8 in 20 overs (H Dutta 28*; Karan KC 3-22, S Vesawkar 3-22) by 34 runs

Man-of-the-match: S Vesawkar