Pokhara Avengers record 10-wicket win
The first century of Nepal Premier League (NPL) has been made possible by an American batsman. This century was in the name of Andries Gaus, who played for Pokhara Avengers on Friday, the sixth day of the tournament.
American Gauss scored a century against Lumbini Lions. Born in South Africa, he played an unbeaten innings of 104 runs at the Trivi Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. For that he faced only 55 balls. His century saw the Avengers achieve a memorable victory.
Lahiru Malintha of Janakpur Bolts scored an unbeaten 75 against Biratnagar Kings on the first day of NPL. Looking at the wicket conditions, the prospect of more individual high scores looked difficult. If we look at the game on Friday morning, Chitwan Rhinos could score only 130 runs.
In the second game of the day, the story was completely different. Nepali national team captain Rohit Paudel, who is playing for Lumbini Lions, was also stopped when he was close to a century. Rohit scored 95 runs and got out on the last ball of the innings. This also gave Gauss of the Avengers a big score in the counter innings.
'It has been a long time since I scored a century in T-20, this has given me relief. I reached the score of 90 a few times. Making a century in a game won without losing a wicket is special,'' Gauss said after the match. After his century, Pokhara Avengers completed the target of 171 runs within 17 overs. In an innings of 176 runs, he shared 176 runs with Dinesh Kharel and gave Pokhara a record 10-wicket victory.
Gaus said that Dinesh also helped him when he was batting well. His understanding was that Rohit batted excellently as always. Gauss, who has been playing for the US national team since this year, came to Nepal and played for the first time. It is very difficult to play in Nepal as there is a lot of spin. We were lucky to hit a few fours and sixes in the first two overs, because that took the pressure off us. Then the Lions players made some mistakes, we took advantage of that,' Gaus revealed the secret of scoring a century. 
In their first match against Chitwan Rhinos, Pokhara, who had a target of 162 runs, scored 7 runs and lost 6 wickets. At the time, Gauss was playing in the Abu Dhabi T-10 League for the Morrisville Samp Army in the UAE. He was watching his prospective team's miserable score from UAE.
'6 wickets in 7 runs is rarely seen. I think this is the first time I have seen it. This is what happens in franchise cricket. However, how you come back from there is important. We came back strongly from that situation,'' said Gauss, dedicating his century to coach Rajeev Kumar.
Coach Rajeev has left for India after his father passed away on Friday morning. Perhaps he won't be afraid to return to this competitive copper. Gaus expressed his heartiness towards the coach, stating that his family will always be his first priority.
Gauss scored 20 runs in his first match against Janakpur Bolts. He believes that because he has played in T-10, he will dominate the target bowler, which inspired him to play well against Lumbini. But more than that, he is happy to get a chance to open the batting.
Gause recounts making full use of it. He believes that the pressure on the team will be reduced if they hit some fours and sixes in the opening and make use of the power play.
Pokhara along with captain Kushal Bhurtel fielded Dinesh in the opening batting against Chitwan. However, Kushal got out in the first ball of that match. He became Dinesh's opening pair after Gauss came.
Gauss's last one-day international and Twenty20 International played for America are both against Nepal. A month and a half ago, these games were played during Nepal's visit to America. He scored 62 runs against Nepal in the second Twenty20 International on October 29.
Gauss scored 65 in the first match of the group stage against Canada in the Twenty20 World Cup in the US in June. He considers it special because of the innings he played in the World Cup. "It was a big stage and I played in front of my teammates, my family. That was probably my best innings," Gauss said about his maiden NPL century. "This innings is also special because it was not an easy wicket to bat on."
