Kathmandu, Jan. 19: Sudur Pashchim Province has won its third consecutive match in the ongoing PM Cup Men’s National Cricket Tournament after defeating Gandaki Province at Bhairahawa Cricket Ground on Thursday.

Sudur Pashchim won the match by 108 runs. At the end of Day 6, Sudur Pashchim stands at the top of the league table with six points in three matches. Nepal Police Club, the only other unbeaten team in the season so far, is in the second position with four points in two matches. 

Electing to field first, Gandaki bowled out Sudur Pashchim at 201 runs with the final wicket of Naren Saud in the final bowl of the 50th over. While Bipin Khatri and Ankit Neupane took three wickets each, Kamal Pariyar and Amrit Gurung claimed two each for Gandaki.

Sudur Pashchim’s top order failed to score sufficiently. After the wicket of captain Raju Rijal in 22.2 overs, Sudur Pashchim was left at 68 in the loss of five wickets. Milan Bohora followed Rijal in the 26th over leaving 

the team at 72-6.

It was thanks to Kiran Thagunna and Narayan Joshi that Sudur Pashchim was able to cross the 200-run-mark. While Thagunna got to a half-century, Joshi fell short of four runs. 

While the team failed to put up a satisfactory target, it did not fail with the ball. Sher Malla’s five-wicket haul helped Sudur Pashchim bowl out Gandaki at 93 runs in the 31st over. Gajendra Bohora took two wickets and Naren Saud, Milan Bohora and Bhoj Raj Bhatta bagged one each 

for Sudur Pashchim.

Only two batsmen scored in two digits for Gandaki in the chase. Aswani Rana faced 67 balls to score 25 while Kamal Pariyar stood his ground until the 49th ball and departed at 22 runs. In the 93 runs of Gandaki, 

25 came from extras.

On the other hand, Tribhuwan Army Club was able to bounce back on Thursday after a devastating defeat against Bagmati on Wednesday. Fielding first, Bagmati bowled out Army at 97 runs.

Nevertheless, Army showed that its bowling line-up was not a joke. Bagmati lost seven wickets to chase the low target of 98 in the 23rd over. And, on Thursday, electing to field first, Army’s bowlers bowled out Koshi Province at 88 runs in the Mulpani International Cricket Ground. 

Shahab Alam’s six-wicket haul was the best figure for Army as he bowled for only 6.4 overs. Kushal Malla took two wickets and Sompal Kami and Bibek Yadav took one each.

Firdosh Ansari opened the match for Koshi with captain Ankit Subedi. However, Ansari was caught after hitting a four in the ball of Kami. Subedi stayed until the 13th over and departed at 41 runs after getting caught behind. None of the other batsmen scored in two digits for Koshi.  Army’s bowlers gave 19 runs in extras.

Meanwhile, Army lost only one wicket to chase the target in only 10 overs. Sujan Thapaliya took the only wicket for Koshi as Army’s opener Imran Sheikh was struck leg before after scoring 32 runs off 25 balls. Another opener Santosh Karki remained not out at 32 runs off 27 balls with Kushal Malla.

Hitting six in 9.5 overs in the bowl of Saujan Ghimire, Malla won the match for Army as the team reached 92. He scored 22 runs in only seven balls.

In the third match of the day at TU International Cricket Ground, Madhes emerged victorious against Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club.

Having given to bat first by Madhes, APF’s top order played a quality inning. While opener Prajwal Shahi was caught for a duck, Aasif Sheikh and captain Rohit Paudel scored individual half-centuries in a partnership of 132 runs. Sheikh and Paudel departed after scoring 59 and 58 respectively. 

After the wickets of two quality batsmen, APF had to wait for Amar Routela, who came in at 8. Routela fell only one run short of his half-century as the batting inning came to an end with the completion of the 50th over. Routela’s inning helped APF paste a target of 247 runs in the loss of nine wickets.

Rupesh Singh and Pradip Paswan took three wickets each for Madhes.

With the bat, Madhes only lost five wickets as it chased the target with two overs remaining. There were three half-centuries for Madhes in the win. Pawan Sarraf scored 64 runs in 66 balls, Niraj Yadav scored 52 in 70 and Rupesh Singh hit 72 at a 

strike rate of 100.