Kathmandu Gorkhaz moved closer to the playoffs by defeating Karnali Yaks by 5 wickets in the Nepal Premier League (NPL) on Sunday, thanks to brilliant batting from Gerhard Erasmus and John Simpson.

This is Kathmandu's third consecutive win. Kathmandu has climbed to second place after winning its fourth match in six matches. Despite having the same 8 points, Kathmandu has surpassed Biratnagar in net run rate to occupy second place. Karnali suffered its fourth defeat in five matches. 

After Erasmus and Simpson shared a partnership of 86 runs in 45 balls, Kathmandu achieved the target of 150 runs with 155 runs to spare in 12 balls at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. When Kathmandu needed 1 run to win, Devrehate batter Simpson was dismissed by bowler Nandan Yadav.

Nandan dismissed Rashid Khan in the next ball. Two balls later, Bhim Sarki hit a six to score the winning run. Simpson scored 41 runs in 21 balls, hitting 4 fours and 2 sixes. Player of the Match Erasmus scored an unbeaten 43 off 33 balls. Erasmus, the Namibia captain who is going to Dubai to play the UAE IL T-20, hit 2 fours and a six. 

Erasmus said that the team's victory was more important than his own performance. 'This was also my last match, I was struggling a little to perform well, it's not that I can always play well,' Erasmus said, 'I'm happy that I was able to perform well at the right time. If we can make 1-2 good partnerships, then it will be easier for boundaries to come later because the wicket is good.'

Erasmus said that although it was difficult to play the first 12-13 balls, it was easy to play with an experienced player like Simpson. Erasmus said that Simpson was also an advantage because he was a left-handed batsman. He had the experience that his team was playing well despite the fact that there were no left-handed batters in Gorkha last year and there were many left-handed batters this time. 

Simpson said that his morale had increased after three consecutive wins and he wanted to play the final in front of a packed audience. He claimed that after this victory, Gorkhas was in a good position and would try to make a place in the qualifiers by winning the last match and staying in the top two. 

Even though Akash Tripathi was out for 8 runs in 11 balls, Kathmandu scored 46 runs in the first 6 overs of the power play. In that, Ben Charlesworth hit 20 runs with 3 sixes in one over off Karnali captain Sompal Kami. Charlesworth scored 34 runs with 2 fours and 3 sixes in 21 balls.

Erasmus and Simpson played openly when Milind Kumar was in serious trouble after being run out for 15 runs. Karnali's Nandan took 3 wickets for 35 runs in 4 overs and Pawan Saraf took 1 wicket. Earlier, after Gulshan Jha's aggressive innings, Karnali, who had won the toss and elected to bat, had scored 149 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs.

Karnali had made a very poor start. Captain Karan KC had cut and bowled Priyank Panchal in the first ball of the match. In the last ball of the same over, William Bosisto was run out for 1 run. Mark Watt and Pawan improved Karnali's situation by putting on a 59-run partnership for the third wicket. Watt was also run out for 30 runs. He hit 1 four and 2 sixes in 27 balls. Pawan was dismissed LBW by Santosh Yadav for 35 runs. Pawan hit 2 fours and a six in 29 balls.