Left-handed batsmen shone as Biratnagar Kings and Kathmandu Gorkhas registered victories in the Nepal Premier League (NPL) on Friday, bolstering their chances of reaching the playoffs.

Biratnagar won a sensational 3-wicket victory over Karnali Yaks with Bashir Ahmed's brilliant batting. Kathmandu defeated Chitwan Rhinos by 53 runs with an aggressive half-century from John Simpson. 

Biratnagar has moved closer to the playoffs with its fourth win in 5 matches. Biratnagar is in second place. Sudurpaschim Royals are at the top after winning their first 4 matches. Kathmandu is in third place with its third win in 5 matches. This is Karnali's third defeat in 4 matches. Chitwan has suffered its second defeat in 4 matches.

After Bashir scored an unbeaten 62 runs, Biratnagar achieved the target of 161 runs with 1 ball to spare under the floodlights of the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. Needing 4 runs in the last over and 4 off 2 balls, Bashir hit a six to help Biratnagar score 163 runs. 

This is only the second match in which the result came in the last over while chasing the target of victory. Earlier, Chitwan had scored 171 runs with 5 balls to spare while chasing a target of 167 runs against Karnali. 

Player of the Match Bashir hit 3 fours and a six in 43 balls. Captain Sandeep Lamichhane remained unbeaten on 6 runs in 4 balls. Biratnagar turned the game around after scoring 35 runs in the first 6 overs of the power-play and losing 3 wickets. 

George Mansi was dismissed for zero, Lokesh Bomb for 6, and Sam Hazlett for 16 runs, and Bashir first shared a 44-run partnership with Sahil Patel for the fourth wicket. Sahil, who got his first chance, scored 19 runs including 1 six in 24 balls. 

Merchant de Lange was dismissed for 2 runs, but Bashir shared a 69-run partnership with Narayan Joshi for the sixth wicket. Despite being dismissed by Sompal Kami, Narayan, who was saved due to a no-ball, scored 25 runs in 16 balls, including 2 fours and 1 six. Pratish GC was dismissed for 6 runs. Karnali's Sompal and Gulshan Jha took 2-2 and Pawan Saraf, Nandan Yadav and William Bosisto took 1-1 wicket. 

Sri Lankan international player Sehan Jayasuriya was played by Biratnagar for the first time. Jayasuriya, who was brought in after American all-rounder Shubham Ranjan left for Dubai for the UAE's IL T-20, was injured while fielding, and Biratnagar turned the game around when he could not come out to bat. 

Karnali's strategy also seemed weak. The team did not let the two main young spinners, Bipin Sharma and Yuvraj Khatri, bowl a single over. Even when Biratnagar's lower-order batsmen came on, Bipin and Yuvraj remained on the field only as fielders. Bosisto, who played the role of off-spinner, took 1 wicket for just 12 runs in 3 overs. But with Devrehate Bashir batting, Karnali did not field Bosisto in the remaining 1 over. Deepak Dumre, who played in place of Arjun Gharti Magar, also did not keep his wicket.

Earlier, Karnali, who had won the toss and entered the fray with the efforts of Priyank Panchal and Bosisto, had scored 160 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 20 overs. After opener Mark Watt was dismissed for 6 runs in 9 balls, Panchal and Bosisto shared a partnership of 96 runs in 82 balls. Panchal scored 63 runs in 47 balls. He hit 6 fours and 2 sixes in his second half-century in the tournament.

Bosisto remained unbeaten on 48 runs. He hit 2 fours in 48 balls. Najibullah Zadran remained unbeaten on 12 runs in 6 balls with 1 six. Gulshan was dismissed for 20 runs with 2 fours and 1 six in 10 balls. Sandeep and De Lange took 1 wicket each. 

Kathmandu dominates the 'Bagmati Derby'

English batsman John Simpson scored a half-century but was prevented from scoring a big score after the middle order collapsed dramatically. Kathmandu, who came in to bat after losing the toss, was all out for 142 runs in 19.4 overs. Kathmandu lost its last 7 wickets for 20 runs in 23 balls. 

After scoring 24 runs in the first 5 overs of the power-play, Simpson shared a 98-run partnership with Milind Kumar for the fourth wicket in 71 balls. Simpson scored 60 runs. This is the first half-century of a Kathmandu player in the ongoing tournament. He hit 3 fours and a six in 29 balls. Milind scored 38 runs with 5 fours in 43 balls. Both were dismissed in consecutive balls. Milind was bowled by Ravi Bopara in the last ball of the 16th over, while Kamal Singh Airi dismissed Simpson in the first ball of the 17th over.

Then, the Kathmandu players were dismissed in turn. Sohail Tanvir took 3 wickets in the 17th over. He took 4 wickets for 25 runs in a total of 4 overs. Ranjit Kumar took 28 runs in 4 overs and Kamal took 2 wickets for 19 runs in 2.4 overs.

Earlier, Akash Tripathi was run out for 4 runs. Rashid Khan, who was sent to number three, hit a six and scored 6 runs. Ben Charlesworth scored 13 runs in 14 balls. Gerard Erasmus, who came in after Simpson was dismissed, was stumped by a wide ball. Adil Alam Ansari scored 8 runs in 5 balls. Santosh Yadav also failed to open his account, while captain Karan KC was out for 1 and Dipesh Kandel for 6 runs. Shahab Alam remained unbeaten on 2 runs.

After an excellent bowling performance, Kathmandu made a one-sided attack in the 'Bagmati Derby'. Chitwan was all out for 89 runs in 17.2 overs. Rashid took the last 3 wickets. He took 3 of the last 4 wickets by spending only 3 runs in 1.2 overs. Milind and Shahab, along with Karan, took 2 wickets each. Karan scored 23 runs in 4 overs, Milind 18 runs in 4 overs and Shahab 26 runs in 4 overs. Santosh had 1 wicket. 

From Chitwan, Dev Khanal and Bopara scored 21 runs each. Dev hit 2 fours and 1 six in 18 balls and Bopara hit 1 four and a six in 23 balls. Sohail Tanvir was out for 18 runs. Karan dismissed Deepak Bohra for a duck in the first over. Another opener, David Malan, was out for 7 runs. Saif Zaib was out for 1, captain Kushal Malla for 6 and Arjun Saud for 2 runs. Kamal added 2 runs.