Biratnagar Kings have achieved their first victory in Nepal Premier League (NPL) cricket. Biratnagar defeated Lumbini Lions by 2 wickets in an exciting match on Wednesday. After losing the first two games, Biratnagar won the first game in the third game.
After losing the toss and being invited to bat, Lumbini scored 191 runs by losing 7 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs at the Trivi Cricket Ground, Kirtipur on Wednesday. After Lokesh Bam scored 71 runs off 47 balls, Biratnagar completed the target 1 ball ahead.
Lumbini made the highest score in the ongoing competition. Biratnagar scored 193 runs in 19.5 overs. Biratnagar needed 16 runs to win in the last over. Vivek Yadav reached to throw the first two balls wide. In the third ball, he dismissed Biratnagar captain Sandeep Lamichhane.
Chris Soul, who came next, could not score any runs in the first ball. But after hitting a six on the second ball he faced, he hit fours on the next two consecutive balls to give victory to Biratnagar. Sol scored 16 unbeaten runs in 3 balls. Vivek was very expensive. He scored 64 runs in 3.5 overs.
player of the match Lokesh hit 3 fours and 6 sixes. Ramon Simmonds gave Lumbini a good start by dismissing Ismatullah Alam in the first over. Another opener, Martin Guptill, scored 28 runs with 6 fours in 17 balls.
Rajesh Pulami was dismissed for 4 runs and Nicholas Kritan got out in the first ball, but Lokesh added 77 runs in 40 balls for the fifth wicket with Basir Ahmed. Basir played 23 balls and scored 40 runs with 4 fours. Deepak Bohra scored an unbeaten 9 runs off 8 balls, though Pratis GC was dismissed for 6 runs off 3 balls.
Durgesh Gupta took 3 wickets from Lumbini. He spent only 21 runs in 4 overs. Simmonds took 2 wickets for 33 in 4 overs and Saad Bin Zafar for 35 runs in 4 overs.
In the first innings, captain Rohit Paudel scored the highest 46 runs. He played 29 balls and hit 4 fours and 2 sixes. Opener Ashutosh Ghirohia hit 2 fours and 1 six off 13 balls and was run out after scoring 15 runs, while Alam bowled Arjun Saud who scored 17 runs off 19 balls with 3 fours.
Rohit shared 67 runs in 33 balls with Tom Moores for the third wicket. After hitting three consecutive sixes off Anil Kharel, Moors was run out after scoring 30 runs in 17 balls. Four Lumbini batters were run out. Sandeep Zora had 12 runs and Ben Cutting had 6 runs.
Jafar scored 15 runs in 13 balls with 1 six. Vivek hit Basir for consecutive sixes in the first two balls of the last over and remained unbeaten by scoring 19 runs with a total of 3 sixes in 7 balls. Simmonds remained unbeaten on 2 runs. Alam, Pulami and Sandeep took 1 wicket each from Biratnagar.
