Sports
Youthful Police team defend title
A youthful Nepal Police Club (NPC) defended the Ruslan Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament title, once again defeating their archrivals Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) in the final of second edition on Tuesday.A youthful Nepal Police Club (NPC) defended the Ruslan Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament title, once again defeating their archrivals Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) in the final of second edition on Tuesday.
Put in to bat first, skipper Binod Bhandari and Rajesh Pulami Magar guided TAC to a challenging 142-6 in 20 overs. NPC recovered from a precarious position to reach 148-6 with six balls to spare. NPC received a cash purse of Rs 300,000 and the Army team got Rs 200,000.
The final was a repeat of NPC’s title triumph in the previous edition last year that helped them re-establish themselves in domestic cricket. If it was young Siddhant Lohani who guided NPC to title last year lifting the team from 73-7 in chase of 133 runs, a youth combination of Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Bhurtel did the trick this time.
NPC got off to a brisk start when Dilip Nath and Sunil Dhamala (eight) added 32 runs for the first wicket inside four overs. But they were jolted by a brief collapse when they lost both the openers to Bikram Sob followed by a run out of Aarif Sheikh (duck) without adding any run on the board. Nath made 18-ball 24 with four boundaries.
Skipper Manjeet Shrestha eased the pressure hitting three boundaries in his 13-ball 15 but they lost the captain and new man Yogendra Karki (11) to be 72-5. Airee and Bhurtel then resurrected their innings with a 58-run partnership with the latter taking off the pressure with three big sixes in his 24-ball 30 runs.
When Bhurtel was out, NPC needed 13 runs for victory and after some sensible batting, Lohani (nine not out) sealed the game with an entertaining six. Man-of-the-match Airee, who shared the trophy with Bhurtel, remained unbeaten on 42 off 35 with four boundaries and a six. Apart from Sob, Jitendra Mukhiya also picked up two wickets for TAC.
Earlier, TAC lost opener Sagar Pun (one) in the first over before No 3 batsman Naresh Budhayer shared 36 runs for the second wicket with Anil Mandal. Budhayer played fluently in his 25-ball 28, hitting four boundaries and a six. TAC, however, struggled losing Budhayer, Mandal (15) and Raju Rijal (three) in the space of 19 runs. Bhandari and Magar lifted the side with a 55-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Magar made 38 off 21 with four hits to the fence and one six, while Bhandari scored a 30-ball 40 with three fours and two sixes. Sompal Kami was unbeaten on a six-ball 13 hitting a six in the last ball of the innings. Lalit Singh Bhandari and Lalit Rajbanshi took two wickets each for NPC.
Dhamala walked away with the best player of the tournament for making 158 runs from four matches and picking up two wickets. He won a return to tickets of Thailand from Thai airways. Pun (best batsman) and Mukhiya (best bowler) got a mountain flight tickets.
NPC’s Sheikh (best catch), TAC’s Magar (fastest fifty), New Horizon’s Shankar Rana (century) and Surya Lama (emerging player) were other individual award winners. The tournament was organised by Kathmandu Cricket Training Centre.
Summary
NPC 148-6 in 19 overs (DS Airee 42 not out, K Bhurtel 30; J Mukhiya 2-24, B Sob 2-30) beat TAC 142-6 in 20 overs (B Bhandari 40, RP Magar 38; L Rajbanshi 2-21, L Bhandari 2-32) by four wickets