An all-round performance from Sagar Pun guided Army to a comfortable eight wicket victory over New Horizon Cricket Club of Butwal. Sagar claimed four wickets and scored the highest 26 runs for Army.In another match, Subash Khakurel's half century for Armed Police Force (APF) went in vain as it faced five wickets defeat at the hands of arch rival Nepal Police Club.
The final between Army and Police will be played on Saturday at the TU grounds.
Winning the toss, Army invited New Horizon to bat first and bundled them out for 84 runs at the close. In reply, Army chased down the target in 14.5 overs for the loss of two wickets. Opener Sagar Pun contributed hit three fours and a six in his 29 ball knock for Army. Anil Mandal contributed 11 runs. Naresh Budhayer (20 off 27) and skipper Binod Bhandari (18 off 14) remained unbeaten.
Devendra Somare and Rahul Prajapati pocketed one wicket each for New Horizon.
Earlier, openers Nurdoj Sen (15) and Sandeep Sunar (18) gave a formidable start to New Horizon as it was 50/2. Number three batsman Nirmal Thapa also made remarkable contribution for New Horizon scoring 20 runs. However, none other players failed in the batting department as two of them were out for duck while the rest of them failed to reach a double digit figure.
Sagar Pun gave away just 10 runs in his four over spell claiming four wickets. Similarly, Chandra Sawad pocketed three wickets conceding 20 runs in his four over spell that included a maiden over.
In another match, put to bat first APF made 122/8 with Subash Khakurel contributing highest 54 runs. Opener Subash played 41-run stand for the first wicket with Paresh Lohani (8) and 42-run stand for the second wicket with Pradeep Airee (25) before he was bowled out by Dipendra Airee. Skipper Gyanendra Malla (16) was the third player to reach double digit for APF, which lost other batsmen cheaply.
Police bowler Lalit Bhandari, Sunil Dhamala, Manjeet Shreshta, Sushil Kandel and Dipendra Airee shared a wicket each.
In the run chase, top order batsmen came up with remarkable contributions for Police as it surpassed the target in 18.5 over with five wickets to spare.
Opener Sunil Dhamala contributed 16 runs for Police while Shankar Rana (36 off 49) and Amit Shrestha (34 off 30) shared 75-run partnership for the second wicket. Dipendra Airee and Prem Tamang remained unbeaten for three and seven runs respectively.
APF bowler Shakti Gauchan claimed four wickets in his as many over bowling conceding 13 runs with a maiden over.
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