Shankar Dev Campus (SDC) eased to a five-wicket victory over Kist College to claim the Thames BIM Cup Twenty20 cricket on Saturday.

In the final match at the Mulpani cricket ground, Kist batsmen failed to build on a solid start provided by their opener Bikhyat Dhungel and Bibun Shrestha before they were restricted to 123-8 in 20 overs. Akshu Karki then chipped in important runs from the middle order leading SDC to 124-5 in 18.3 overs.

From 31-2, Karki guided SDC to triple figures sharing 29 runs for the third wicket with Dinesh Kafle (10) and 40 runs for the fourth with Prajwal Khatiwada before Nabin Rai (seven not out) sealed the victory. Karki made 38 off 35 with five boundaries and Khatiwada struck a 20-ball 22 with two sixes. Sagar Silwal and Ganesh Gyawali took two wickets each for Kist.

Earlier, Dhungel and Shrestha (17) began with a 56-run partnership that gave Kist an opprtunity to put up a challenging total. But once Bishal Acharya got rid of Dhungel, Kist innings began to crumble. Dhungel scored 31 off 40 with six boundaries, while Roshan Kharel (18) and Shailesh Bhattari (14) reached double figures.

Man-of-the-final Karki put an allround show picking up 4-23 from his four-over spell. With 61 runs and nine wickets in the tournament, Karki was also named the man-of-the-series, while he also ran away with the best batsman and best bowler honours.