After Kathmandu were all out for 111, Lumbini will play Qualifier 2 against Biratnagar Kings on Thursday, achieving the target in 17.4 overs.
What you should know
Lumbini Lions bowled brilliantly to defeat Kathmandu Gorkhas by 4 wickets in the eliminator of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) cricket.
Batting first, Kathmandu were all out for 111 runs in 19.1 overs at the Tribhuvan University Cricket International Ground, Kirtipur on Wednesday. Lumbini, in reply, achieved the target in 17.4 overs.
Lumbini will play Biratnagar Kings in Qualifier 2 on Thursday and the winner will compete for the title against Sudurpaschim Royals on Saturday.
Sher Malla and captain Rohit Poudel took 3 wickets each. Sher scored 22 runs in 4 overs and Rohit scored 25 runs in 4 overs. Ruben Trumpelman took 2 wickets for 10 runs in 3.1 overs and Abhishesh Gautam took 1 wicket for 33 runs in 4 overs.
Kathmandu's regular wickets continued to fall after Sher dismissed Akash Tripathi for 1 run in the second over of the match and the first ball of his first over. Sunny Patel, who was sent to number three, also hit a six but was caught lbw by Trumpelman for 7 runs.
Trumpelman gave Lumbini another big success by cutting Ben Charlesworth behind for 4 runs. Milind Kumar was bowled by Sher for 2 runs. Bhim Sarki hit 1 six and scored 14 runs in 16 balls. Rohit dismissed Bhim and John Simpson in the same over and put Lumbini in complete control of the game.
Bhim tried to hit a one-handed shot when the ball went to the leg side but was caught at short fine leg. Simpson was out for 18 runs in 17 balls, hitting 1 four and 1 six. Rashid Khan could only score 2 runs. Mohammad Adil Ansari, who came after him, hit 2 sixes and 1 four to score 18 runs in 11 balls. He was bowled by Sher.
Karan also hit 1 six and added 9 runs. Santosh Yadav scored the highest 23 runs from Kathmandu. The last player to be out was Santosh, who hit 1 six in 17 balls. Shahab Alam remained unbeaten on 4 runs.
Lumbini achieved the target with a very restrained batting. Dinesh Adhikari, who was brought in to open the batting, was dismissed for 4 runs. His opening pair D'RC shot scored the highest 33 runs. He hit 2 sixes in 34 balls. Rohit was dismissed for 18 runs. He hit 1 four and a six in 25 balls.
Sandeep Jora scored 23 runs against the ball. He also hit 1 four and a six in 14 balls. Niroshan Dickwella scored 14 runs with 2 fours in 14 balls. Dilip Nath was dismissed for 7 runs. Trumpman hit the winning four to give Lumbini the win.
Kathmandu's Santosh took 2 wickets and Sunny, Shahab, Karan and Rashid took 1 wicket each.
