Despite Jimmy Neesham scoring 45 runs off 23 balls, Sudurpaschim Royals stopped Janakpur Bolts with a moderate score in Qualifier-1 of Nepal Premier League (NPL) Cricket on Wednesday.
Janakpur, who won the toss and elected to bat, lost 9 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs at the University Cricket Ground, Kirtipur, and scored only 139 runs.
Nisham hit 3 fours and 3 sixes while playing another aggressive innings. Opener Lahiru Milantha scored 12 runs off 14 balls and was dismissed lbw by captain Dipendra Singh Airi. Regular captain Anil Sah is injured while leading Janakpur Marquee player Asif Shaikh could score only 11 runs with 2 fours from 10 balls.
Shubh Kansakar hit 4 fours off 24 balls and scored 26 runs. Harsh Thakar 12, Araniko Yadav 11, Mohammad Mohsin and Sher Malla 3 each and Kishore Mahato got out for 2 runs. Akash Tripathi remained unbeaten on 4 runs.
Dipendra took the most 3 wickets from Far West. He took 3 wickets for 29 runs in 4 overs. Saif Zaib took 2 wickets for 20 runs in 3 overs and Scott Kuglen and Avinash Bohra took 1 wicket each.
The team that wins this match will reach the finals while the losing team will play against Karnali Yaks in Qualifier-2. Sudurpaschim defeated Janakpur by 72 runs in the round robin league. During that, Janakpur was all out for 51 runs, which is the lowest score in NPL.
