In the league table, Sudurpaschim has 12 points, Kathmandu Gorkhas has 10, and Biratnagar and Lumbini have 8 points each.
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With three matches remaining in the league stage, the four teams that will play in the Nepal Premier League (NPL) playoffs have been decided. Now, the remaining teams will focus on deciding the top four team rankings. Among them, Sudurpaschim Royals will remain in first place and the team has been confirmed to play in the first qualifier. Lumbini Lions defeated Janakpur Bolts by 4 wickets in their last match on Friday.
With this, Lumbini became the fourth team to reach the playoffs. With this result, the playoff chances of Janakpur, Chitwan Rhinos and Pokhara Avengers were officially over. Karnali Yaks' challenge has already ended. Defending champion Janakpur still has one game left. For now, Janakpur is disappointingly at the last place among the eight teams with only 2 points.
In the league table, Sudurpaschim has 12 points, Kathmandu Gorkhaz has 10 points, and Biratnagar and Lumbini have 8 points each. Lumbini, who were given a target of 133 runs to win at the Tribhuvan University Cricket Stadium, scored 136 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 19.1 overs. In that, Dilip Nath remained unbeaten on 15 and Ruben Trumpelman remained unbeaten on 6 runs. Dilip completed the formality of the victory by hitting a six.
Opener Sumit Maharjan was bowled by Sangeet Kore on the first ball he faced without opening his account. D'RC Shott was out lbw after scoring 30 runs off Kore's delivery. Shott hit one four and two sixes in 24 balls. Captain Rohit Poudel scored 34 runs off 32 balls and fell victim to Mayan Yadav. Rohit hit two fours and a six. Sandeep Jora was also out for naught. JJ Smith added 21 runs off 19 balls. Kore took 3 wickets for 25 runs.
Earlier, Janakpur, who had won the toss and elected to bat, scored 132 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs. The big score for the team was Kore's 45 runs. He hit 2 fours and 1 six off 38 balls. Opener Maj Sadakat scored only 6 runs. Another opener Asif Sheikh scored 20 runs off 17 balls.
Anil Sah also could not score more than 7 runs. Shubha Kansakar was also out for 11 runs. Only 14 runs were possible from the bat of Sanjay Krishnamurthy. Mayan Yadav contributed 27 runs. Among Lumbini's bowlers, Sher Malla took 2 wickets for 20 runs. Captain Rohit also took 2 wickets for 15 runs. After the match, Rohit expressed his confidence in his team's ability to reach the playoffs.
He said, "The team was confident. All the players played their respective roles on the field. The credit for this victory goes to the players. I think the team played very well. This time the journey has been very emotional for us. Last season was not as expected, we remained at the bottom of the points table. This season we had to prove ourselves. I think the team has made a comeback in this competition."
"We didn't get the start we wanted," said Jan Nicole Lofty-Eaton, who is captaining the Janakpur team, "but at least we put up a competitive score. After that, the bowling also didn't go as we wanted. It was disappointing for us not to reach the playoffs despite being the defending champions. Now in the last game, we will play for the honor of our supporters.'
