Former winners Lalitpur Patriots and Kathmandu-11 clashed in the Bajaj Pulsar Everest Premier League (EPL) T20 starting at 12 noon on Saturday. In that match, Kathmandu 11 defeated the previous winner Lalitpur by 7 wickets. After losing the toss at the Kirtipur-based Tribhuvan International Cricket Ground, Lalitpur lost eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs and scored 157 runs. Pawan Sarraf was the top scorer for Lalitpur with 61 runs.
Lalitpur captain Kushal Bhurtel was run out in the first ball of the first over. In the same over, Sandun Birakadi was dismissed for 2 runs. Lalitpur lost 3 wickets for 7 runs after Gulsan Jha dismissed Osada Fernanda in the 10th over.
After that, Shankar Rana and Pawan Sarraf shared 56 runs in Lalitpur’s innings. Shankar Rana was dismissed for 14 in the 10th over.
After that, Pawan and Yagendra Singh Karki shared 62 runs for the fifth wicket. Both were dismissed by Ryan Burle in the 17th over. Pawan scored 61 runs off 44 balls with the help of 5 fours and 4 sixes while Yagendra scored 33 runs off 20 balls with the help of 3 sixes. Bhutanese player Ranjug Mikaye Darjeeling, playing in a foreign league for the first time, scored an unbeaten 17 runs.
Kathmandu completed the target of 158 runs set by Lalitpur by losing 3 wickets in 14.2 overs. In the pursuit of the goal, Kathmandu did not have a good start. Opener Subash Khakurel was run out in the first over without an account while Amit Shrestha was run out for 4 in the second over. Kathmandu lost 2 wickets for 12 runs.
But in Kathmandu’s victory, Zimbabwe’s Burl remained unbeaten on 73, Afghanistan’s Gurbaj on 59 and Raju Rijal on 19 (unbeaten). Burl played 34 balls and scored an unbeaten 73 runs with the help of 3 fours and 7 sixes.
For Kathmandu, Jitendra Mukhiya took 4 wickets for 18 runs in 4 overs, Ryan Burle took 2 wickets for 20 runs in 4 overs and Gulshan Jha took 2 wickets for 35 runs in 4 overs.
Similarly, captain Sandeep Lamichhane scored 44 runs in 4 overs while Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi scored 32 runs in 4 overs but both of them could not take wickets.
Six franchise teams are competing in Nepal’s popular T20 cricket. After the single round robin games, the qualifiers will be the finalists. Lalitpur Patriots, Biratnagar Warriors, Bhairahawa Gladiators, Kathmandu Kings 11, Chitwan Tigers and Pokhara Rhinos will compete for 5 million prizes and EPL trophy.