The day’s second match is between Nepal’s two premier all-rounders in T20 cricket. Kathmandu’s maverick Skipper Karan KC’s explosive 10-ball 28 helped Gurkhas chase 150 against Karnali Yaks to give valuable two points. They take on another formidable opponent in the Sudurpaschim Royals. Royals earned two points on the back of a flawless knock from Skipper Dipendra Singh Airee and disciplined bowling. Kathmandu Gurkhas changed their batting order, promoting Shankar Rana to the top but he couldn’t make it big. Sumit Maharjan, who opened the innings in the first match, was demoted down to 6. He stitched a winning 45-run sand with Skipper Karan for the sixth wicket. Another low score for overseas batter Stephen Eskinazi. whereas Michael Levitt once again got out in the 20s. Their top four are looking fragile. The Namibian Captain got into the groove with an all-round performance and will be one of the players to watch out for in this match.
For the Royals, Binod Bhandari (23) and Brandon McMullen (36) – top-order batters – got some runs in the opening game beside Skipper Airee. They will be looking to make a bigger impact in the second game. Sudurpaschim Royals have plenty of bowling arsenal in their tank with both spin and medium options. Once again Dipendra Singh Airee will be a player to watch in this game.
Probable Playing XI of Kathmandu Gurkhas
Stephen Eskinazi †
Michael Levitt
Sumit Maharjan
Gerhard Erasmus
Bhim Sharki
Shankar Rana
Rashid Khan
Karan KC (c)
Shahab Alam
Dipesh Kandel
Probable Playing XI of Sudurpaschim Royals
Amit Shrestha
Binod Bhandari (WK)
Brandon McMullen
Dipendra Singh Airee (c)
Ishan Pandey
Rohan Mustafa
Md Aarif Sheikh
Saif Zaib
Abinash Bohara
Scott Kuggeleijn
Basant Khatri
