Panchakanya Tez put on yet another dominating display to enter the Wai Wai Everest Premier League final after a 49-run win over Sagarmatha Legends on Thursday.

A half century from Karan KC and decent contributions from other batsmen saw Tez pile up a tournament-high 185-5 in 20 overs. Left-arm spinner Sushil Kandel then picked up three wickets in his first two overs before Legends were bundled out for 136 in 17.4 overs.

The fourth consecutive victory saw Tez maintain their lead in the table with eight points and they play Paras Khadka-led Vishal Warriors— second with five points from three games—on Friday. Gyanendra Malla-led Colors X-Factor are third with four points from three games.

Kantipur Gurkhas, who lost to X-Factor by 15 runs earlier in the day, were eliminated after third straight defeat. Gurkhas stand fourth with three points having played all five games. Jagdamba Rhinos are fifth with two points from three games but are still in the race to reach the final. Winless Legends were already eliminated from the tournament.

It was Tez who proved themselves as serious title contenders coming up with an experiment and still winning the game by huge margin. Skipper Sharad Vesawkar surprisingly opened the innings with Aasif Sheikh (3) and after losing the latter, Tez sprung another surprise by bringing in KC at No 3.

KC, known for his hard-hitting, justified the gamble smashing four towering sixes and as many fours in a 31-ball 52 to set Tez on course for a mammoth total. Man-of-the-match KC shared 79 runs with Vesawkar, who made 30 off 32 with two fours and a six.

The dismissal of two set batsmen, however, was only a brief relief for the Legends as other batsmen kept scoring runs with lusty hitting. Prithu Baskota was the next best scorer for Tez, making 38 off 21 with two sixes and as many fours, while Kushal Bhurtel played a nine-ball cameo of 17, hitting two sixes and a four. Bikram Sob took two wickets for the Legends.

Legends had a disastrous start after Kandel removed Sandeep Sunar (seven), Anil Mandal (zero) and hard-hitting Binod Bhandari (one) cheaply at 17-3 in 3.1 overs. They soon lost their set batsmen Sunil Dhamala (18) to Vesawkar before lower order pushed the team to a face-saving total.

Mehboob Alam (23) was Legends’ highest scorer, while Rahul Kumar BK and Chandra Sawad made 22 runs each. Apart from Kandel, Vesawkar also took 3-22 for Tez. Coach Kalam Ali was all praise of his team.

“The best thing is the guys are playing with spirit and supporting each other. Everyone is getting chances and they want to prove themselves. The way Karan batted today was joy to watch because we had gambled by promoting him,” said Ali.

Earlier in t he day, X-Factor remained in hunt for the final by defending 124-8 after their bowlers put up a decent show. Gurkhas were restricted to 109-7 with their opening duo of Subash Khakurel and Pradeep Airee once again unable to give a good start.

They lost Khakurel (two) early and Airee, who made 24-ball 31 with three sixes and two fours, also departed leaving the team at 44-4. Basanta Regmi and Antim Thapa kept Gurkhas in the game with a half century partnership but X-Factor held on in the death overs to take the game away.

Thapa scored 30 off 33 balls with two fours and Regmi contributed 25 off 39. Amar Singh Routela picked up three wickets for X-Factor, while Avinash Karn was decent in his four-over spell, taking 2-19.

Man-of-the-match Yogendra Karki helped X-factor cross triple figures with a 28-ball

34 that included four boundaries. Skipper Malla (20), Rajesh Pulami Magar (17)

and Routela (16 not out) were next best scorers. Lalit Singh Bhandari and captain Regmi took two wickets each for the Gurkhas.

Summaries

Panchakanya Tez 185-5 in 20 overs (Karan KC 52, P Baskota 38, S Vesawkar 30; B Sob 2-33, M Alam 1-25) beat Sagarmatha Legends 136 in 17.4 overs (M Alam 23, Rahul BK 22, C Sawad 22; S Kandel 3-4, S Vesawkar 3-22) by 49 runs

Man-of-the-match: Karan KC

Colors X-Factor 124-8 in 20 overs (Y Karki 30, G Malla 20; B Regmi 2-20, L Bhandari 2-23) beat Kantipur Gurkhas 109-7 in 20 overs (P Airee 31, A Thapa 30; A Routela 3-33, A Karn 2-19) by 15 runs

Man-of-the-match: Yogendra Karki