Lumbini Lions and Kathmandu Gorkhas played out a thrilling match in the Nepal Premier League (NPL) cricket eliminator on Wednesday, with both teams busy praising the same player. Sher Malla has been a revelation in NPL Season 2. Lumbini defeated Kathmandu by 4 wickets with his brilliant bowling. Lumbini captain Rohit Poudel and Kathmandu coach Monty Desai were both delighted with the bowling of Player of the Match Sher.

Kathmandu, who won the toss and batted first, were all out for 111 runs in 19.1 overs at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Stadium in Kirtipur on Wednesday. In reply, Lumbini achieved the target in 17.4 overs. This was Lumbini's fourth consecutive win. Lumbini had made it to the playoffs by winning the last 3 matches of the league stage. Sher Malla and captain Rohit took 3 wickets each. Sher gave away 22 runs in 4 overs and Rohit gave away 25 runs in 4 overs. Ruben Trumpelman took 2 wickets for 10 runs in 3.1 overs and Abhishek Gautam took 1 wicket for 33 runs in 4 overs.

'It seemed like the ball would not turn in the light, that's why we would have fielded first if we had won the toss,' Lumbini captain Rohit said, 'The way we bowled, especially with Sher and Trumpelman's bowling. If we take 4-5 wickets in the power play, the other team will definitely go on the backfoot. So it seems like they bowled very well.' Off-break bowler Sher has taken 13 wickets in the tournament. 

'Sher is a very good side for us, especially in bowling. Whenever he bowls, he is taking wickets exactly, he has taken wickets at important and decisive moments. It is very important when the team wins this,' Rohit said, 'Sher is also doing well in the power play. There is variation and consistency in his bowling. So his future is good.' 

Sher is the 'discovery' of the NPL, says his Kathmandu coach Monty. He said, 'NPL has brought Sher Malla forward, he is doing well with the new ball.' 

Kathmandu's regular wickets continued to fall after Sher dismissed Akash Tripathi for 1 run in the second over of the match and his first ball. Sunny Patel, who was sent to number three, also hit a six but was out lbw by Trumpelman for 7 runs. 

Trumpman gave Lumbini another big success by cutting opener 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 had completely controlled the game by dismissing Bhim and John Simpson in the same over. 

Bhim tried to hit a one-handed shot on the legside when Short managed to catch it at fine leg. Simpson was out for 18 runs in 17 balls, including 1 four and a six. Rashid Khan could only score 2 runs. Then Mohammad Adil Ansari hit 2 sixes and 1 four to score 18 runs in 11 balls. He too was bowled by Sher. 

Captain Karan KC also scored 9 runs, hitting 1 six. Santosh Yadav top-scored for Kathmandu with 23 runs. The last player to be dismissed was Santosh, who hit 1 six in 17 balls. Shahab Alam remained unbeaten on 4 runs. 

‘It seems that all the teams find it difficult to understand the wicket conditions before the toss. It seemed that 140 runs would be a good score. But we could not make good use of the power play,’ said coach Monty, ‘I think we lost two things today. First, we could not understand the ball they bowled well. Second, we could not figure out how to play in which situation and we kept losing wickets.’

Lumbini achieved the target with a very restrained batting. Dinesh Adhikari, who was brought in to bat, was dismissed for 4 runs. His partner D’RC shot scored the highest 33 runs. He hit 2 sixes in 34 balls. Captain Rohit was dismissed for 18 runs. He hit 1 four and a six in 25 balls.