Police, who lost to Tribhuvan Army Club in the first match, had defeated Nepal APF Club by 9 wickets in the previous match. If Police wins this match, they will be assured of a place in the final.
What you should know
Defending champions Nepal Police Club are inching towards the final of the two-day Jay Trophy Men's Elite Cup cricket tournament. Police showed their potential to reach the final after taking a 60-run lead over Bagmati Pradesh on the first day of the match on Thursday.
After losing the toss, the Tribhuvan Army Club defeated Nepal APF Club by 9 wickets in the previous match. If the Police win this match, their place in the final will be confirmed. The four competing teams will compete against each other in a round-robin format and the top two teams will play in the final. Dilshan Ali from the Police scored 37 runs off 64 balls, including 5 fours, and captain Arif Sheikh scored 17 runs off 30 balls, including 2 fours and 1 six. The two have put on an unbeaten partnership of 30 runs for the fifth wicket. Gautam KC bowled Sohail Kunwar before he opened his account, but another opener, Kushal Bhurtel, batted aggressively and scored 96 runs, enabling the Police to take the lead on the first day.
Bhurtel, who missed out on a century after being out LBW by Devrehate spinner Ishan Pandey, hit 16 fours in 84 balls. He shared a 107-run partnership with Amit Shrestha for the second wicket. Amit was out for 35 runs in 62 balls, hitting 2 fours and 3 sixes. Bhurtel and Amit were out with a gap of 3 runs.
Then Shankar Rana extended the Police innings. Shankar, who had scored a century in the previous match against APF, scored 48 runs in 47 balls, including 4 fours and 3 sixes. He was dismissed LBW by captain Sandeep Lamichhane. Bagmati's Ishan took 2 wickets.
Earlier, Bagmati had added 101 runs in the last two wickets. Bipin Acharya, batting at number nine, remained unbeaten on 46 runs. He hit 7 fours in 75 balls. He shared a partnership of 51 runs with Gautam KC for the ninth wicket and 50 runs with Surya Tamang for the tenth wicket. Gautam scored 21 runs off 26 balls, including 2 fours and 1 six, while Surya scored 24 runs off 44 balls, including 2 fours and 1 six.
Bagmati lost its first 8 wickets after scoring 84 runs. Openers Ashutosh Ghirohiya and Rit Gautam were dismissed for zero and 1 run respectively. Shubha Kansakar also failed to open his account. Uttam Thapa Magar was dismissed for 5, Vivek Rana Magar for 12, and Region Dhakal for 2 runs. Ishan scored 41 runs off 95 balls, including 5 fours and 1 six. Sandeep was dismissed for 14 runs.
Karan KC took 4 wickets for Police. Karan, who recently got married, spent 27 runs in 13 overs, including 2 maidens. Lalit Rajbanshi took 3 wickets for 62 runs in 17 overs, keeping 3 maidens, while Sagar Dhakal, Rashid Khan and Bhurtel took 1 wicket each.
Tribhuvan Army is in a strong position in the match against APF at the Army Club Mulpani Cricket Ground. Currently at the top, Army is close to the final. After losing the toss and being invited to bat after Tritaraj Das's century, Army declared the end of its first innings at 252 runs for the loss of 9 wickets.
Tritaraj scored 102 runs. He shared a 172-run partnership for the first wicket with Imran Sheikh. He hit 10 fours and 2 sixes in 159 balls. Imran scored 71 runs in 134 balls, hitting 7 fours and 2 sixes. But after that, Army's wickets kept falling.
Bhim Sarki 5, Santosh Karki 7, Bashir Ahmed 20, captain Binod Bhandari zero, Kushal Malla 17, Sompal Kami 6, Pawan Karki were out for zero. Naren Saud remained unbeaten on 5 runs. APF's young leg-spinner Yuvraj Khatri took 5 wickets. Yuvraj, who dismissed Trit, Imran, and Binod, spent 55 runs in 14 overs with 2 maidens. Captain Rohit Poudel took 2 wickets.
At the end of the first day's play, APF had scored 140 runs and lost 9 wickets. Rohit is at the crease after scoring 48 runs. He hit only 1 boundary in his 102-ball innings. Abhishek Gautam is yet to come out to bat. Yuvraj was out for 5 runs at the end of the day's play.
Sompal Kami did not let APF survive by taking 4 wickets. Among them, he dismissed his brother Puran BK in the first ball. Sompal dismissed openers Deepak Bohra, Asif Sheikh and Sandeep Jora, before taking his fourth wicket. Sompal dismissed Jora and Pooran in quick succession, but Sumit Maharjan prevented a hat-trick of wickets.
Asif was out for 14 off 19 balls with 2 fours, Deepak for 21 off 21 balls with 4 fours and Jora for 5 runs. Sumit was out for 15 off 35 balls with 2 fours, Lokesh Bam for 14 off 27 balls with 3 fours, Amarsingh Rautela for 6 and Irshad Ahmed for 3 runs. Apart from Sompal, Naren Saud took 2 wickets for the Army, while Tritaraj and Bashir took 1 wicket each.
