Lumbini, which only won against Chitwan Rhinos last year, has started its NPL journey by defeating Chitwan this time.
What you should know
Lumbini Lions finished bottom of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) last season. The team won only 1 of the 7 matches in the league stage. That lone win Lumbini achieved was against Chitwan Rhinos.
Lumbini continued the same trend in Thursday's match in this season's NPL. Rohit Poudel and Gulbaddin Naib shared a 60-run partnership for the fourth wicket in 41 balls as Lumbini defeated Chitwan by 6 wickets. Chitwan is the same team that had defeated Karnali Yaks by 4 wickets in the first match to stake its claim.
Lumbini achieved the target of 143 runs by scoring 146 runs with 9 balls to spare at the Tribhuvan International Cricket Stadium. Lumbini won in its first match.
Rohit scored 39 runs in 44 balls with 1 four. Naib played an unbeaten innings of 44 runs. He scored 44 runs in 24 balls with 3 fours and a six. JJ Smit remained unbeaten on 4 runs. He scored the winning run by hitting a four. Chitwan's Region Dhakal took 2 wickets for 17 runs in 3 overs and Sohail Tanvir took 1 wicket.
Region dismissed both Lumbini openers. D'R shot 16 runs with 1 six and 1 four, and Sandeep Jora was out for 28 runs with 4 fours in 18 balls. Dilip Nath was run out for 10 runs while trying to take the third run.
'The first win is very important, I think that when you win the first match in any tournament, that tournament is very good. That's why today's match was very important for us,' Lumbini captain Rohit said, 'This result was possible due to our team effort. We managed to win with everyone's good effort.
We had laid the foundation for victory by restricting Chitwan to 142 runs under floodlights.' Earlier, after Ravi Bopara scored a half-century for the second consecutive match, Chitwan, who came in to bat after losing the toss, scored 142 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Bopara led Chitwan's innings by scoring 66 runs in 55 balls. He hit 4 fours and 3 sixes. Bopara was caught by Gulbadin Naib in the last over by Dilip Nath.
Chitwan did not start well. In the first over, Ruben Trumpelman bowled David Malan for nil. After Devrehate spinner Abhishek Gautam dismissed Deepak Bohra for 10 and Dev Khanal for 14 runs, Chitwan reached 41-3 in the eighth over.
Captain Kushal Malla scored 21 runs in 18 balls. Kushal, who escaped a return catch by Sher Malla for 12 runs, hit 1 six. He became Trumpelman's second victim. Trumpelman also dismissed Saif Zaib. Zaib scored 15 runs in 7 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. Sohail Tanvir was out for 5 runs. Trumpelman took 3 wickets in 4 overs for 23 runs. Naib took 2 wickets in 4 overs for 23 runs and Abhishek took 2 wickets in 3 overs for 15 runs. The match will be played between Pokhara Avengers and Sudurpaschim Royals on Friday.
