Tribhuvan Army Club set up the Karnali Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament title clash with New Horizon after a thrilling one-wicket win over Nepal Armed Police Force Club in Surkhet on Friday.

In the rain-affected second semi-final match at the Kalinchowk Cricket Ground, APF battled to a below par 86 in 18 overs. But it needed Sompal Kami’s heroics and the last wicket partnership to secure victory for Army. APF lost Anil Kumar Shah for a duck in the second ball of their innings but his opening partner Sharad Vesawkar held firm at the other end. While Vesawkar was defiant, wickets kept tumbling at the other end and APF were eventually dismissed for 86 in the last ball of their innings.

Vesawkar top scored with 37-ball 30 without hitting a single boundary. Bhuwan Karki (19), Puran BK (13) and Shankar Rana (12) were the only other APF batsmen to make runs of any note against a discipline Army bowling. Kami was pick of the Army bowlers with figures of 3-10 from three overs, while Susan Bhari took 2-23.

In reply, the Army club appeared to be heading for a defeat at 34-6 by the 10th over but man-of-the-match Kami had other ideas. He clobbered three boundaries and a six in his 22-ball 31. But just when Army was cruising towards  victory Kami ran himself out with his team still needing 14 runs for victory. The last wicket pair of Jitendra Mukhiya and Sahab Alam held their nerves to  successfully overcome the target. Mukhiya remained unbeaten on 12 off 10 balls  while Alam scored not out two. Kamal Singh Airee and Yagyaman Kumal picked up two wickets each for APF.

Earlier in the first semi-final match, New Horizon of Butwal beat Karnali XI by three wickets. In the rain-marred 13-over match, Karnali posted 62-4 before New Horizon chased down the total for the loss of seven wickets in 11.5 overs. Karnali had No 5 batsman Krishna Karki to thank for posting a decent total on the board. Karnali were reeling at 17-3 by the sixth over before Karki stepped in to propel his team’s total, adding an invaluable 45 runs for the fourth  wicket with Lokesh Bam (11).

Karki remained unbeaten on 33, his 31-ball knock included three boundaries and a six. Former national team veteran Shakti Gauchan claimed two wickets conceding just six runs in his three overs, while Akhilesh Yadav and Arjun  Rayamajhi took one wicket each for New Horizon.

New Horizon did manage to pull of the victory but not before going through some nervy moments of their own. They lost seven wickets in the process and as it turned out the small contributions from Subendu Pandey (18), Nishcal Chaudhary (10) and Bishal Sunar (10) proved handy. Sunar eased the run chase scoring his runs in just four deliveries.

Kishore Mahato claimed three and Prakash Jaisi took two wickets for Karnali. Krishna Karki and Diwan Pun also picked up a wicket each for Karnali.