Sudurpaschim Royals maintained the performance they were showing in the round robin league of Nepal Premier League (NPL) even up to Qualifier 1. Sudoorpaschim, who won 6 out of 7 games in the league, reached the finals with a strong performance at the Trivi Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Wednesday.

After Vinod Bhandari scored a half-century, Sudurpaschim did not have to struggle much to defeat Janakpur Bolts by 8 wickets. After veteran opening batsman Vinod scored unbeaten 58 runs, Sudurpaschim completed the target of 142 runs in 1 over by scoring 142 runs in 18.3 overs.

Janakpur is the same team, which was bowled out by Sudurpaschim for 51 runs in the round robin league, which is the lowest score in NPL. Sudurpaschim won the match by 72 runs. After Vinod scored an unbeaten 58 runs with 3 fours and 3 sixes playing 55 balls, Sudurpaschim maintained that rhythm. 

Sudurpaschim will play the final against the winner of Qualifier 2 between Karnali Yaks and Janakpur on Thursday. The final will be held on Saturday. The biggest one is that Sudurpaschim will now have two days of complete rest while Karnali and Janakpur will play for the second day in a row and after a day's rest, they will be competing for the final. 

Player of the match Vinod, who shared 56 runs in 8 overs with Saif Zaib for the first wicket, shared 59 runs with Brandon McMullen for the second wicket. "We had a good start, but we talked to the coach that we were not able to finish," Vinod said. Sudoorpaschim has been playing well in all the matches, so I think we deserved to reach the final.'

Sudoorpaschim got off to a good start by adding 48 runs in the first powerplay. "From the first game, we had to dominate the power play and play. There was no need to play under pressure," Vinod said about the team's strategy. Zaib scored 32 with 3 fours and 2 sixes from 21 balls and McMullen scored 23 runs with 1 four and six from 19 balls. Captain Dipendra Singh Airey remained unbeaten on 21 runs off 16 balls with 1 four and 1 six. Kishore Mahato and Lalit Rajvanshi took 1 wicket each for Janakpur.

Earlier, Jimmy Nisam scored 45 runs in 23 balls, but Janakpur won the toss and chose to bat, losing 9 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs, but could score only 139 runs. Nisam 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 Dipendra. As regular captain Anil Shah was injured, Janakpur was led by marquee player Asif Shaikh. He scored only 11 runs in 10 balls with 2 fours. 

Shubh Kansakar scored 26 runs off 24 balls with 4 fours. Harsh Thakar 12, Araniko Yadav 11, Mohammad Mohsin and Sher Malla 3 each and Kishore Mahato 2 runs out.

Akash Tripathi remained unbeaten on 4 runs. Dipendra took the most 3 wickets from Far West. Presenting a strong claim for the best player of the tournament, he spent only 29 runs in 4 overs. Zaib took 2 wickets for 20 runs in 3 overs and Scott Kuglen and Avinash Bohra took 1 wicket each.

Kolsawala's arrival gave Karnali hope

Chitwan Rhinos was the only one to defeat Sudurpaschim in the first round. The trip to Chitwan was also ended by Karnali Yaks in the first match on Wednesday. Karnali reached Qualifier 2 after defeating Chitwan by 21 runs in the eliminator.

After Jaykishan Kolsawala, who is very familiar with Nepali cricket, scored a half-century in the first match of the tournament, Karnali's batting looked very organized. Along with him, Karnali, who was invited to bat after losing the toss due to the high efforts of two foreign players, William Bosisto and Chadwick Walton, scored 175 runs after losing 6 wickets in 20 overs.

Kolsawala scored 53 off 39 balls, Bosisto scored 52 off 39 balls and Walton scored an unbeaten 46 off 23 balls. Opening batter Kolsawala hit 6 fours and 2 sixes and Bosisto who was in top form hit 3 fours and 2 sixes. Player of the match Walton hit 4 fours and 3 sixes. Rit Gautam, who got a second chance in the

competition, was again dismissed for zero. Gulshan Jha could not open the account. Jason Maqsood was out for 14 off 12 balls and Dev Khanal for 3 runs. From Chitwan, Sohail Tanveer took 2 wickets for 24 runs in 4 overs. Sharad Bheshavkar, Ravi Bopara and captain Kushal Mall had 1 wicket each. Karnali also defeated Chitwan by 6 wickets in the

league. Even though Rabi Bopara scored a half-century, Chitwan could not reverse the result this time. The team could score only 154 runs after losing 9 wickets. Bopara scored 53 runs in 34 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes. He is the leading run-scorer in the tournament. He scored 286 runs and surpassed Lumbini Lions captain Rohit Paudel's 279 runs.