Jagadamba Rhinos 124-8 (Kami 44 Pandey 21 Regmi 3-20 Rajbanshi 2-15) beat Kantipur Gurkhas 113-8 (Jhora 42 Anil Shah 28 Tamang 2-15 Sharraf 2-24 Gauchan 2-33) by 11 runs. Full Scorecard
Colors X’factors 168-6 (Pulami 56 Malla 52 Alam 2-20 Sob 2-25) beat Sagarmatha Legends !59-6 (Bhandari 48 dhamala 46 Alam 23 Karn 2-25) by 9 runs. Full Scorecard
Fourth day of the WaiWai EPL saw two batting sides defend contrasting totals in their hard-fought victories. Jagadamba Rhino defended a smallish total of 124 to gain a 11 run victory while Colors X-factors out-performed Sagarmatha Legends’ batting efforts an an interesting 9 runs victory.
In the first match of the day, Jagadamba huffed and puffed their way to 124 with Sompal Kami ( 44 off 30 balls with 4 sixes) rescuing his team from a poor position of 52 for 4 in 10th over. There was not much support from the other end for Kami as only Shubendu Pandey made it into the 20s. Kantipur Gurkhas had a good bowling day with captain Basant Regmi led the way with a three-wicket haul while other left arm spinner Lalit Rajbanshi chipped in with a tidy 4 over spell of 2-15.
Chasing a below par total, Gurkhas made the worst possible start as the half-centurian from their victory over Sagarmatha Legends, Pradeep Airee, was dismissed for a duck by Shakti Gauchan. Khakurel soon followed him to the pavilion. Gurkhas, as was widely anticipated, showed very little batting depth beyond the famed openers and were put into some serious pressure by spirited Rhinos side. Anil Shah tried anchoring the innings with a steady 28 but there was very little support for him. Sandeep Jhora (42 of 28) played a dazzling cameo at the end which included 2 sixes in consecutive balls but it proved too late as they fell short of the first innings total by 11 runs. Shakti Gauchan, Pawan Sharraf and Prem Tamang took 2 wickets each while Sompal Kami contributed one for his side. Kami was declared Man of the Match for his all-round performance.
In the second match of the day, Colors X-factors influcted a third straight loss for Sagarmatha Legends as they completed a hard-fought 9 runs victory. Batting first, twin half centuries from captain Gyanendra Malla and Rajesh Pulami helped X-factors set a daunting total of 169 to chase for the Legends. Malla (52 of 37) and Pulami (56 of 38) both hit 4 fours and 2 sixes in their innings.
In reply, birthday boy Sunil Dhamala continued from where he left yesterday as he hit some crisp off-side boundaries in his 36-ball 46. Legends were looked almost out of the game at the start of 18th over with Mehboob Alam (23 of 17) just dismissed and 45 runs to get in 3 overs. Captain Binod Bhandari and Bikram Sob thrashed Yogendra Singh Karki for 21 runs in the next over to ger them hope and with a six in the fifth ball of 19th over, the equation went to 15 needed off 7 balls. In an almost the decisive moment of the day, Malla ran-out Bhandari (48 of 28) by a direct hit in the last ball of that over to effectively seal the deal for X-factors. Malla was awarded the man of the match for his batting and that decisive run-out.
With the victories, both Rhinos and X-factors open their account with 2 points each while the misery continues for Legends with 3 defeats in 3 matches.