Tribhuvan Army Club has avenged the defeat it suffered against Nepal Police Club in the final of the Jai Trophy Men's Elite Cup. Police had defeated Army by 4 wickets in the three-day final on Thursday to defend the title.

But after Bashir Ahmed scored a century, Army defeated Police by 22 runs in the Prime Minister's (PM) Cup Men's National Tournament on Sunday. Last year, Police won the PM Cup by defeating Army by 6 wickets in Bhairahawa. In that match, Bashir scored an unbeaten 86 runs, but Army was all out for 154 runs in 43 overs.

After Bashir scored 100 runs, Army scored 243 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the match shortened to 47 overs due to the wet ground at Mulpani. He played this innings at a time when Army had already lost 4 wickets after scoring 58 runs in 17 overs. Bashir, who had scored an unbeaten 101 against Nepal APF Club in the Jai Trophy just a month ago, hit 8 fours and 2 sixes in 86 balls this time.

With the first four batsmen Tritaraj Das 13, Arjun Saud and Imran Sheikh each out for 10 and Kushal Malla out for 7, Bashir and the experienced Bhim Sarki shared an 82-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Bhim scored 62 runs in 65 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Captain Binod Bhandari was out for 5, Pawan Karki for zero. Naren Saud remained unbeaten on 21 runs in 22 balls with 1 six.

Shravan Yadav of Police took 3 wickets. He had given away 24 runs in 6 overs. Sagar Dhakal took 34 with 3 maidens in 9 overs, Rashid Khan took 2-2 for 65 runs in 9 overs, and Lalit Rajbanshi took 1 wicket for 39 runs in 10 overs. 

Police, playing without their main batsman Kushal Bhurtel due to injury, were all out for 221 runs in 45.3 overs.  After Dinesh Kharel was dismissed in the first ball of the innings and Amit Shrestha was dismissed for 5 runs, Shankar Rana scored 46, Rashid Khan scored 60 and captain Arif Sheikh scored 38 runs for the pressured Police.  Shankar hit 5 fours and 1 six in 66 balls, Rashid hit 5 fours and 2 sixes in 82 balls, and Arif hit 4 fours and 2 sixes in 43 balls. 

Dilsad Ali hit 7, Gulshan Jha hit 10, Karan KC hit 16 fours and 2 sixes in 16 balls to make 23, Shravan got out for 13 and Lalit got out for zero.  Army's Naren Saud took 3 wickets. He gave away 57 runs in 10 overs. Akash Chand took 2 wickets for 38 runs in 7 overs, Kushal, Shahab Alam, Pawan and Player of the Match Bashir took 1 wicket each. APF won

APF defeated Bagmati Pradesh by 71 runs in Upper Mulpani with Asif Sheikh's 114 runs. APF, who were invited to bat after losing the toss, scored 271 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the stipulated 50 overs. Player of the Match Arif hit 14 fours and 3 sixes in 105 balls. Asif and Sandeep Jora shared a 103-run partnership for the third wicket after Deepak Bohra was dismissed for 3 and captain Rohit Poudel for 9 runs. Jora scored 52 runs in 53 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. Sumit Maharjan was out for 18, Amarsingh Rautela for 1 run. Lokesh Bam and Yuvraj Khatri put on 52 runs for the seventh wicket, which was another decisive partnership for APF. Lokesh scored 29 runs in 36 balls, including 1 four and a six. Yuvraj remained unbeaten on 26 runs in 39 balls, hitting 2 fours. Nandan Yadav remained unbeaten on 5 runs, while Kamal Singh Airi remained unbeaten on 3 runs. Region Dhakal took 4 wickets for Bagmati. He spent 44 runs in 10 overs. Ishan Pandey took 2 wickets for 23 runs in 6 overs, while captain Sandeep Lamichhane and Sonu Devkota took 1 wicket each. In reply, Bagmati were all out for 200 runs in 45.1 overs. The final pair of Region and Subash Khatri made a partnership of 53 runs, which made Bagmati's score worth watching. Subash, who batted at number 10, was out for 27 runs in 54 balls, hitting 3 fours and 1 six, while Region remained unbeaten on 20 runs in 27 balls, hitting 1 four and 1 six.

Bagmati's upper-order batsmen performed very disappointingly. Ashutosh Ghiraiya was out for 9, Shubh Kansakar for 8, Shivam Tiwari for 25, Ishan for 17. Uttam Thapa Magar scored 26 runs in 53 balls, including 1 four, and Vivek Rana Magar scored 36 runs in 64 balls, including 2 fours and 1 six. Sonu was out for 7, Pratish GC for 6, and Sandeep for zero. Rohit and Abhishek Gautam of APF took 3 wickets each. Rohit scored 22 runs in 10 overs with 2 maidens and Abhishek scored 43 runs in 10 overs with 2 maidens. Kamal, Nandan, Yuvraj and Amar took 1 wicket each. The tournament started on Saturday from Janakpur and Birgunj in Madhesh Province. Both matches on the first day were cancelled due to rain. On Monday, matches will be played between Koshi and Lumbini Provinces in Janakpur and between Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces in Birgunj. The match is scheduled to be played in Kathmandu on Tuesday.