Sudurpaschim failed to complete the target within 12.2 overs, Karnali was eliminated in the playoffs, Kathmandu Gurkhaz reached Sanghar.
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Karnali Yaks had two options when competing against Sudurpaschim Royals in Nepal Premier League (NPL) cricket on Monday. A narrow victory over Sudurpaschim would have taken Karnali into Qualifiers 1. But a loss would have eliminated the team from the tournament and Kathmandu Gurkhaz would have entered the playoffs.
Despite having to bat on a difficult wicket in the morning, Karnali's target seemed to be Qualifiers 1. However, as expected, due to the wicket, Karnali's batting could not open up. On the contrary, it reached the point of collapse. The team was bowled out for 101 runs after playing the scheduled 20 overs.
Now Karnali had no choice but to play it safe. However, that was not in the hands of the team. If Sudurpaschim had accomplished this goal within 12.2 overs, Gurkhaz would have overtaken Karnali and reached the playoffs by being ahead in net run rate. After Sudurpaschim finished in 15.2 overs, Karnali also secured the top four spot.
Sudurpaschim will now compete against Janakpur Bolts for a place in the NPL final. This is the equation of Qualifiers 1 after Sudoorpaschim won by 6 wickets against Karnali Yaks on Monday. Far West remained at the top with 12 points. Janakpur collected 10 points in 7 matches.
Chitwan Rhinos and Karnali, who have the same 8 points, will play in the eliminator of the playoffs, remaining third and fourth. Its winner will play the loser of Qualifiers 1 for a place in the final. On Wednesday, there will be Eliminators in the morning and Qualifiers 1 in the afternoon. Despite having the same 8 points with Chitwan and Karnali, Kathmandu Gurkhaz are out of the race for the playoffs because they are behind in the net run rate.
Harmeet Singh did not let Karnali's batting open after Sudoorpaschim won the toss for the first time in NPL. He dismissed Nandan Yadav and Bipin Sharma in the last over and took 3 wickets at the expense of only 17 runs in 4 overs. Captain Dipendra Singh Airey took 20 wickets in 4 overs and Scott Kuglen took 2-2 wickets with 29 runs in 4 overs. One wicket remained in the name of Saif Zaib.
Jisan Maksud scored the highest 30 runs from Karnali. He hit 4 fours in 35 balls. William Bosisto scored 16 off 24 balls, Babar Hayat scored 13 off 9 balls, Chadwick Walton and Sompal Kami scored 11 each, Dev Khanal scored 7 runs, Gulshan Jha scored 2 runs and Rit Gautam, who was playing his first match in the tournament, got out for zero.
Ishan Pandey scored an unbeaten 38 off 36 balls to win Sudurpaschim. He hit 4 fours. Arif Shaikh remained unbeaten on 4 runs. While scoring 28 runs and losing 3 wickets, Ishan and Dipendra Singh shared 67 runs for the fourth wicket. Player of the match Dipendra scored 38 runs with 4 fours and 1 six off 29 balls. Vinod Bhandari 4, Saif Zaib 11 and Brandon McMullen got out with 3 runs. Sompal, Vipin and Nandan took 1 wicket.
