Skipper Gyanendra Malla led from the front with an explosive half century as Kathmandu Goldens made it to the Qualifier of the Dhangadi Premier League (DPL) Twenty20 cricket tournament on Friday.

 

In a last ball thriller, Goldens edged Paras Khadka-led Biratnagar Kings by five wickets to find themselves in the first Qualifier with a game to spare. After their fourth consecutive win, Goldens will at worse finish in second. The top two teams after the round robin league will meet in the first Qualifier from where the winners will make it to the final. The losing side will have another shot at the final in the second Qualifier, where they play winners of the Eliminator match between the third and fourth placed teams.

 

Kings are third in the standings on net run-rate, tied on four points with second placed Mahendranagar United and Team Chauraha Dhangadi. CYC Attariya are also alive in playoff hunt with two points from three games. Attariya play United (on Saturday) and Kings (on Sunday) needing to win both matches. A victory over either Attariya or Kathmandu Goldens will put United in the playoffs. Chauraha must win against bottom side Rupandehi Challengers in their last league game on Saturday to secure a place in the playoff.

 

In the game of the day at the SSP grounds, a quickfire half century from Babar Hayat helped Kings post an imposing 164-8 in 20 overs. While skipper Malla was pivotal, some lusty hittings from Pushpa Thapa and Sunny Patel also helped Goldens reply with 170-5 in 20 overs. 

 

Goldens needed six runs from the last six balls and seamezr Ramnaresh Giri bowled exceptionally well conceding five runs in the first five balls. With one-over eliminator still possible in case of a tie, Giri’s full toss ball was hit by Malla for a six at square leg. The turning point of the match came in the 17th over when Manjeet Shrestha came in to bowl with Goldens needing 52 runs from four overs. Manjeet was hit for 20 runs with Pushpa Thapa clobbering a six and two boundaries consecutively while Malla also slamming a four. 

 

Patel then hit Basanta Regmi for a six and a four in the 18th next over that yielded 12 runs. Patel also slammed two sixes off Khadka in the 19th that produced 14 runs to reduced the target to just six. Man-of-the-match Malla made 68 off 40 with five fours and four sixes. Patel scored 10-ball 25 and Thapa chipped in with 24 off 17 with two fours and a six. No 3 Bhupendra Thapa contributed 36 runs from the top order with three fours and two sixes. Regmi took two wickets for Kings. 

 

Kings captain Khadka hailed the spirited show from his opposite number Malla and Patel. “I think in the last four overs, our death bowling was not as good as it could have been. Gyanendra and Sunny batted really well. When somebody plays better than you on a particular day, they deserve to win” said Khadka.

 

Earlier, Kings had a modest start after Dilip Nath and Anil Sah (10) began with a 38-run partnership for the first wicket. Nath and Hayat then added another 32 runs for the second wicket before the latter stamped authority with brutal hitting. On his way to making second half century of the tournament, Hayat hammered seven towering sixes and three boundaries to smash 67 runs from 33 deliveries. Prithu Baskota (11) and Basanta Regmi (10) were other batsmen to make runs in double figures. 

Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took 3-18 from four overs for Kings, while Rashid Khan snapped 2-43 from his four.