Sports
NPC, TAC coast to semi-finals
Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) and Nepal Police Club (NPC) coasted to easy victories on their way to the semi-finals of the second Ruslan Cup Twenty20 cricket on Friday.Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) and Nepal Police Club (NPC) coasted to easy victories on their way to the semi-finals of the second Ruslan Cup Twenty20 cricket on Friday.
In the first match, NPC swept past Himalayan White House College by eight wickets riding on a second consecutive half century from opener Sunil Dhamala. Seamers ran riot as TAC routed Royal PC Fighter by 10 wickets.
Man-of-the-match Avinash Karn produced a dream four-over spell returning with figures of 4-3 with two maiden as TAC bundled out Royal PC Fighter for a tournament low 45 in 17 overs. Army raced to victory in just four overs after Sagar Pun hammered 21 off 36 with seven boundaries.
No 3 batsman Bijay Sunar was the only Royal PC Fighter to reach double figures making 11 off 32 balls with two boundaries. Apart from Karn, Sompal Kami took 3-8 from four, while Lokendra Chand had the figures of 2-9 from three overs.
White House had crushed PC Fighter XI by 107 runs in their first match of the tournament but against a strong looking NPC side, they were restricted to 98-8 in 20 overs. NPC reached 99-2 in 13 overs with Dhamala once again hitting form.
Dhamala had made a half century in NPC’s victory over Himalayan Cricket Academy on the opening day and the former U-19 opener continued his form leading the run chase. Dhamala smashed four sixes and as many boundaries to make a 42-ball 60 not out. He shared 58 runs for the second wicket with Aarif Sheikh who scored 27 off 21 with five boundaries.
Earlier, White House lost openers Aakash Thapa and Subhendu Pandey with just three runs on the board before skipper Hasim Ansari and Pranit Thapa Magar halted the proceedings with a 40-run stand. But once they lost Thapa Magar and experienced Mehboob Alam (one), White House struggled throughout.
Ansari made a 42-ball 33 with three boundaries and Thapa Magar scored 23 off 28 with two fours and a six. Amar Singh Routela (18) was the remaining batsman to make runs in double figures. Lalit Singh Bhandari and Dipendra Airee took two wickets each for NPC.