Sports
Pokhara Lions advance into final
Downtown Pokhara Lions entered the Machhapuchhre Cricket League Twenty20 final with a two-wicket win over Parbat Titans in Pokhara on Wednesday.Downtown Pokhara Lions entered the Machhapuchhre Cricket League Twenty20 final with a two-wicket win over Parbat Titans in Pokhara on Wednesday.
In the Qualifier match, a collective bowling effort helped Lions bundle out Titans for 73 runs in 16 overs. Titans did make life hard for Lions in their chase but couldn’t stop the opponents from reaching 74-8 in 16 overs.
Titans will now play hosts Machhapuchhre Lions in the second Qualifier after the hosts hammered VM Warriors by eight wickets in the Eliminator game.
Titans reduced Lions to 30-4 but a 12-ball 27 from Parvin Pandey helped them close in on the final. Pandey hit three boundaries and two sixes. Manoj Koirala (12) and Sudeep Poudel (10) were other Lions batsmen to make runs in double figures. Raju Tamang and Raju Thapa took two wickets each for Titans.
Earlier, man-of-the-match Pandey, Lal Bahadur Gurung, Biru Gurung and Himal Gaha had taken two wickets each to halt Titans’ proceedings. Abhishek Thapa top scored for Titans with 23 off 22 with a boundary, while Deepen Rayamajhi made a run-a-ball 18.
In the Eliminator game, three wickets from Virat Duwadi and two from skipper Dipesh Khatri saw VM Warriors skittled out for 63 runs in 20 overs. Man-of-the-match Khatri returned to smash seven boundaries in his 27-ball 35 not out as Machhapuchhre reached 66-2 in just eight overs. Mahesh Regmi remained unbeaten on 11 from eight balls with a six and a four.
For Warriors, Ram Krishna KC was the leading scorer with 16 off 26 that included a six, while Tejendra G Magar (11) was the only other batsman to cross double digits.