Nepal Police Club (NPC) and Great Himalaya Cricket Academy (GHCA) entered the semi-finals of the Rautahat Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament on Sunday.

NPC cancelled out a watchful half century from opener Mahesh Rana to edge Nexus Cricket Academy by seven runs in the first quarter-finals. GHCA saild through after defeating Mahakali Cricket Academy by 25 runs. In the semi-finals on Monday, NPC will play Malpokhari Cricket Club and GHCA take on Oasis Cricket Academy.

In the first match at the Rautahat ground, NPC made 133-7 in 20 overs after Amit Shrestha and Prem Tamang got involved in a half century partnership. Rana held the innings for Nexus in reply but once he handed a return catch to Dipesh Shrestha, Nexus could only manage 126-6.

Rana was all over Nexus reply after he added 47 runs for the second wicket with Aashish Jha (eight). He accounted for 50 percent of the team total but his departure ended the team’s hopes. Rana scored 63 off 61 balls with six boundaries and three sixes. Man-of-the-match Shrestha took 3-19 from four overs for NPC. Yogendra Singh Karki also had two scalps for the winning side.

Earlier, Tamang topscored for NPC with a 41-ball 40 hitting five fours and a six. He shared 53 runs for the third wicket with Amit who scored 30 off 26 with five fours and a six. Avinash Karn lifted the team total with a 20-ball 26 hitting two sixes and a four.

GHCA rode on a 37-ball 35 from man-of-the-match Sonu Tamang to make 121-6. Tamang returned with the ball to picked up four wickets as Mahakali were 96 all out in 18.1 overs. Shubhendu Pandey made 34 off 26 for Mahakali hitting five fours and a six. Naresh Bohora (25) was their next best scorer. Tamang returned the figures of 4-15 and Bikram Sob also tore Mahakali apart taking 4-5 from 3.1 overs.

Tamang and Sob had also forged a match-winning 45-run partnership for the sixth wicket lifting GHCA from 67-5. Tamang’s innings included two fours and a six. Ishan Pandey (20) and Bhupendra Thapa (19) also made runs up the order for GHCA. Sunil Sunar took two wickets for Mahakali.