Kathmandu, May 17: The Armed Police Force (APF) Club ended its group stage campaign at the Lalitpur Mayor Women’s Championship unbeaten. APF emerged victorious in its final group match against Sudurpashchim Province on Thursday.

APF defeated Sudurpashchim by three wickets in a close contest while chasing the target of 112 runs. The target was chased by APF with two balls in hand.

Sudurpashchim had posted 111 runs on the board in the loss of five wickets while batting first at TU International Cricket Ground. Rubi Poddar’s 29 off 36, skipper Bindu Rawal’s 36 off 51 and Kabita Joshi’s 29 off 28 were the notable scores for Sudurpashchim.

APF’s Indu Barma and Rekha Rawal bagged one wicket each while three other Sudurpashchim batters were run out.

Sudurpashchim tried defending the low target; however, APF, a better team, bounced back and chased the target successfully to continue their unbeaten run. 

APF lost three wickets – Rajmati Airee, Sita Rana Magar and Indu – in the first powerplay. While it raised the hopes for Sudurpashchim, Roma Thapa (23 off 20), Mamta Chaudhary (32 off 34) and Sarita Magar (19 off 30) came to the rescue for APF.

All six bowlers used by Sudurpashchim bagged at least one wicket each while Laxmi Saud took two. With the loss, Sudurpashchim, currently in second position, has to defeat bottom-placed Bagmati in the final match of the group stage on Friday to progress to the final against top-positioned APF. APF has won all four of the group stage matches in the tournament participated by five teams – APF, Sudurpashchim, Bagmati, Koshi and Lalitpur Mayor XI.

Nevertheless, Sudurpashchim might be able to progress to the final even after a loss to Bagmati based on the net run rate. The final of the tournament is scheduled for Saturday.

The host, Lalitpur Mayor XI, also had a chance to book a place in the final; however, it was shattered by Koshi on Thursday. It was the first win for Koshi in the tournament.

Lalitpur posted a target of 89 runs in the loss of nine wickets against Koshi. It was chased by the Eastern province by the 18th over in the loss of four wickets.