With a brilliant partnership between Ishan Pandey and Binod Bhandari, Sudurpaschim registered their fifth consecutive win by defeating Janakpur at the Tribhuvan University Ground.
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Sudurpaschim Royals have become the first team to reach the playoffs of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) cricket. Sudurpaschim defeated defending champions Janakpur Bolts by six wickets in the second match on Saturday.
After Ishan Pandey and Binod Bhandari played a restrained innings, Sudurpaschim achieved the target of 146 runs with 14 balls to spare at the Tribhuvan University Cricket International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.
Sudurpaschim had lost to Janakpur in the final last year. But this time, Sudurpaschim, who had a strong title claim, won all the first five matches and secured a place in the playoffs and moved closer to Qualifiers 1. On the contrary, after losing all the first four matches, Janakpur is almost certain to be eliminated.
Ishan scored 56 off 35 balls and Binod scored 42 runs off 49 balls. Ishan hit 8 fours and 1 six and Binod hit 3 fours and 1 six in 49 balls. Ishan and Binod shared a partnership of 91 runs off 75 balls with opener Josh Brown out on the first ball of the match and Chris Lynn out for 1 run.
Captain Deependra Singh Airee scored 10 off 7 balls and Harmeet Singh scored an unbeaten 25 runs off 10 balls to lead Sudurpaschim to victory. Harmit hit 1 four and 3 sixes. Janakpur's Maj Sadakat took 2 wickets and Sanjay Krishnamurthy and Aditya Mahata took 1 wicket each.
Earlier, inspired by American batter Krishnamurthy's half-century, Janakpur had scored 145 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Janakpur managed to reach this score by adding 78 runs in the last 8 overs.
Krishnamurthy, who led Janakpur's innings at 67-4 in 12 overs, scored 50 runs in 38 balls. He hit 4 fours and 2 sixes. Krishnamurthy had scored 20 runs in the 15th over bowled by Dipendra, including 2 sixes and 1 four. Krishnamurthy and Aditya Mahata added 55 runs for the fifth wicket. Aditya scored 15 runs in 13 balls, including 2 fours.
Avinash Bohra got Sudurpaschim back in the game by dismissing Krishnamurthy and Shubha Kansakar in consecutive balls in the 18th over. Avinash gave away only 2 runs in that over. Parnell was out for 14 runs in 12 balls. Rupesh Singh remained unbeaten on 1 run.
Avinash took 4 wickets from Sudurpaschim. He spent 30 runs in 4 overs. Another fast bowler Scott Kugglen took 3 wickets for 22 runs in 4 overs and Dipendra took 1 wicket for 30 runs in 3 overs.
Janakpur did not get off to a good start. Kugglen bowled Asif Sheikh in the first over of the match. He dismissed Mayan Yadav lbw for 6 runs. Opener Maz Sadakat hit 2 fours in 9 balls and was bowled by Dipendra for 12 runs. Yan Nicole Lofty Eaton scored 39 runs in 33 balls. He also hit 2 fours and a six.
