Binod Bhandari got his form back after a long time with a quickfire half century as Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) registered their second consecutive victory in the Prime Minister Cup One-Day national cricket tournament match on Friday.

In a Group ‘A’ match at the TU grounds, Bhandari smashed 64 off 29, handing TAC a comprehensive 106-run victory over Province 1. Bhandari blitzed at the closing stages lifting TAC to a challenging 225-9 after the match was reduced to 45-over-a-side. Spinners did the rest picking up eight wickets as Province 1 were 119 all out in 29.3 overs.

Seamer Sompal Kami picked up the first two wickets, including that of in-form batsman Sandeep Dhungana for a duck, reducing Province 1 to 20-2 in five overs. Rajan Magar and Pushpa Thapa put on biggest stand —30 runs for the third wicket—before Sushan Bhari led the attack to demolish Province 1.

Sushan returned with figures of 4-15 from 6.3 overs, while Sagar Pun (2-43) and Sahab Alam (2-9) shared four wickets for the Armymen. After the departure of Rajan, it was skipper who fought a lonely battle scoring 59 off 72 with six fours and a six before falling as the ninth wicket to Sushan. Rajan scored 24 from 30 balls with four boundaries and others failed to reach double figures.

Earlier, Province 1 seamers found right line not allowing openers Sagar and Anil Mandal to play freely. Sagar had only added eight runs when he fell in the 12th over, bowled by Firdosh Ansari. Anil and Naresh Budhayer then shared 52 runs for the second wicket but were still far from comfortable zone at 152-7 in 39.2 overs.

Bhandari stepped in and scored aggressively as the Army collected 95 runs in the last 10 overs. Demoting himself down the order, Bhandari began by smashing two consecutive sixes off Pushpa in the 43rd over. He then hit Firdosh for a six and a four in the 44th before changing the course of the match completely in the final over bowled by Sandeep Dhungana.

Bhandari collected 24 runs from the last over with two sixes and three boundaries before falling in the last ball. He brought up tournament’s fastest half century reaching 50 runs in just 25 deliveries. Anil scored 36 from 63 with four boundaries and Naresh chipped in 32 from 41 with five hits to the fence. Manoj Tamang took three wickets, while Minash Thapa and Firdosh had two scalps apiece.

Bhandari was elated to reach half century in domestic cricket after a long time. “I had promoted myself up the order for previous match and it gave me a bit pressure to stay long at the crease. But coming late in the pitch with few overs left gave me the luxury to go after the bowlers. And it worked,” said Bhandari who wants the middle order to do well.

“The middle order has not been able to make huge amount of runs and if the middle order does well then we can definitely win the title,” he added. TAC now lead the points table with four points from two matches.

At the Mulpani Cricket Ground, the Group ‘B’ match between Nepal Police Club (NPC) and Province 6 was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to wet outfield. NPC and Province 7 have three points each but the latter lead the table on better net run rate.

Summary

Tribhuvan Army Club 225-9 in 45 overs (B Bhandari 64, A Mandal 36; M Tamang 3-39, M Thapa 2-14) beat Province One 119 in 29.3 overs (P Thapa 59, R Magar 24; S Bhari 4-15, S Alam 2-9) by 106 runs Man-of-the-match: B Bhandari