In the ongoing KP Oli Cup T20 tournament in Pokhara, Madhesh Province secured a spot in the finals by defeating the Armed Police Force Club (APF). The other finalist, Tribhuvan Army Club, earned their place by beating Bagmati Pradesh in the first semi-final. The final between Madhesh and Army is scheduled to start at 12 noon tomorrow.
APF shocked with Madhesh Province
Madhesh Pradesh batted first and set a target of 198 runs. In response, APF scored 186 runs, falling short by 11 runs. Despite batting for the entire 20 overs. Scorecard
While defeating the departmental team APF by 11 runs, Madhesh Pradesh, who batted first and presented a target of 198 runs. Despite batting the entire 20 overs, APF scored 186 runs with the loss of 9 wickets.
After Asif Shaikh 4 and Sumit Maharjan were dismissed for 13 runs, APF reached the state of 22/2, opener Pradeep Airee and number four Sundeep Jora shared a century Partnership. After a partnership of 106 runs, Jora was caught out by Pradeep Paswan in the fourteenth over. Jora scored 54 runs off 31 balls with the help of 3 fours and 5 sixes.
After that, APF lost consecutive wickets. Puran BK could not open his account when middle order Arun Airee was run out scoring 4 runs. In the fifteenth over, Pradeep Airee was bowled by Harishankar Shah. Airee scored 55 runs off 42 balls with the help of 3 fours and 4 sixes.
Batting at number seven, Lokesh Bam tried to win the team with aggressive batting. APF needed 16 runs to win with 7 balls to spare. Bam was caught out by Bishal Patel in the last ball of the 19th over. Bam scored 32 runs off 15 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes. In the last over, Harishankar Shah sealed the victory for Madhesh conceeding just 4 runs. Bhuvan Karki scored 14 unbeaten runs in 12 balls with the help of 2 fours but could not win.
In the bowling of Madhesh, Bishal Patel took the most 3 wickets in which 35 runs were spent in 4 overs. Harishankar Shah and Pradeep Paswan took 2 wickets each.
Earlier, Madhesh, who won the toss and batted, scored 197 runs after losing 6 wickets in 20 overs. Opener Anil Shah and number three Imran Shaikh contributed half-centuries for him. Shah scored 57 runs in 36 balls with 2 fours and 6 sixes and Sheikh scored 50 runs in 32 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes. Shah and Sheikh shared a 92-run partnership for the second wicket.
Similarly, Pawan Sarraf scored 33 runs in 19 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes and Rupesh Singh scored 21 runs in 8 balls with 3 fours and 1 six. Himanshu Dutta scored 15 runs in 7 balls with the help of 2 fours and 1 six.
In the bowling of APF, Shyam Dhakal took the most 3 wickets and spent 47 runs in 4 overs. Amar Singh Rautela took 2 wickets and Puran BK took 1 wicket.
Army defeated Bagmati
In the other semi-final held today, Army came close to winning the title by defeating Bagmati Province by 4 wickets. Scorecard
Army completed the target of 128 runs given by Bagmati in 15 overs with the loss of 6 wickets.
Bhim Sarki scored 39 runs and Sompal Kami added 15 runs not out in Army’s victory. Bhim hit 5 fours in 35 balls and Sompal hit 1 six in 12 balls.
Kushal Malla hit 4 sixes off 8 balls and scored 27 runs. Captain Binod Bhandari scored 25 runs in 12 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes while the other batsmen got out without scoring runs in double figures.
In bowling, captain Sandeep Lamichhane took 2 wickets in Bagmati.
Before that, Bagmati, who won the toss and batted first at the Pokhara Cricket Ground, could add only 127 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.
Pratik Shrestha’s 50 not out proved crucial for Bagmati who were batting poorly. He hit 3 fours and 4 sixes in 35 balls.
Before that, when opener Shubh Kansakar was dismissed for 3 runs, Rit Gautam for 14 runs, Ishan Pandey for 12 runs, Roshan BK for 1 run and Gaurav Khadka for 8 runs, Bagmati lost an important 5 wickets after scoring 44 runs in 10.1 overs.
Captain Sandeep Lamichhane contributed 19 runs off 22 balls when Pratish JC was also out for zero. Sahab Alam of Army took 4 wickets in bowling. Sompal Kami took 2 wickets and Bivek Yadav took 1 wicket.
