Sports
Police prevail in departmental duel but Army still reach semi-finals
At the Mulpani cricket ground, seven-wicket haul from Kumar Thapa keeps Province 2 in hunt for last-four berthSports Bureau
Nepal Police Club prevailed in a departmental duel to defeat Tribhuvan Army Club but the latter still made it to the semi-finals of the Prime Minister Cup One-Day National cricket tournament at the TU Stadium on Saturday.
The clash between two title contenders lost its colours when Army bundled out Police for just 161 runs in 48.4 overs after left arm spinner Shahab Alam picked up four wickets. Spinners combined to take seven wickets for NPC as Army were 111 all out in 42.3 overs. Army currently lead the standings on net run-rate after they were tied on six points from maximum four matches.
NPC are left to play Province 2 in their last Group 'B' game on Sunday and a victory will send them at the top of the table. Province 2, who have four points, need to score a victory with handsome margin to go through at the expense of NPC on net run rate. Even a victory with biggest of margin for Province 2 will only push Army to second at the worst.
Karan KC, Shahab Alam and Sushan Bhari took a wicket each to reduce NPC to 24-3 in 11.4 overs. Dipendra Singh Airee and Dilip Nath (14) resisted for a while before Army went on to lose four wickets in a space of 33 runs to get reduced to 94-7. Airee made 29 off 49 with two fours and a six.
Aarif Sheikh anchored the innings for NPC with a 60-run eighth wicket partnership with skipper Manjeet Shrestha pushing the team beyond 150-run mark. Aarif's 54-ball 34 included two boundaries, while Shrestha was unbeaten on 36 off 62 hitting three fours and a six. Alam took 4-30 from 10 overs and KC returned 2-36 from 9.4.
Man-of-the-match Sheikh gave a dream start to NPC in defense of a low total getting rid of explosive Binod Bhandari (duck) in the first over. Army then continued to lose wickets at regular intervals before being folded for their lowest total of the tournament. Hari Bahadur Chauhan made a painstaking 97-ball 34 for Army with two hits to the fence. Opener Raju Rijal and Rohit Kumar Paudel were their next best scorers with 16 runs each. Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took 3-31 from 8.3 overs for NPC, while Sheikh and Airee had two scalps apiece.
At the Mulpani cricket ground, Kumar Thapa and Suraj Patel combined to lead Province 2 to a massive 161-run win over Province 1. Batting first, Province 2 rode on a collective batting effort to post an imposing 265-9 in 50 overs. In reply, Province 1 were bowled out for 104 in 28.5 over thanks to a burst of seven wickets from Thapa.
Hari Shankar Sah (31) and Hasim Ansari (20) put on a 43-runs stand for the first wicket to steady the Province 2 innings. After the dismissal of the openers, Ravi Sah and Bishal Shusling scored 20 runs each. But it was the arrival of Patel which helped Province 2 score runs with great urgency. Patel held the Province 2 innings together scoring unbeaten 78 runs. His 70-ball knock included six fours and three sixes. While former national team allrounder Mahaboob Alam chipped in 19, Rashid Khan's aggresive knock ensured his team post a daunting total on the board.
Khan struck five sixes and two fours in his 31-ball 47. Puspa Thapa claimed three and Saroj Basnet took two wickets for Province 1. Apart from No 3 batsman Minash Thapa and opener Sunny Pun no other Province 1 batsmen scored runs in double figures. Thapa slammed three fours and two sixes in his 35-ball 36 while Pun made a composed 29 off 48 balls with two fours and a six.
Man-of-the-match Thapa accounted for both the batsmen. Their dismissal triggered a remarkable collapse as Province 1 were dismissed in the 29th over with Thapa finishing with figures of 7-22 from eight overs. Divyanshu Mallick also took two wickets for Province 2.