KATHMANDU, Jan 14: Departmental teams Nepal Police Club and Tribhuvan Army Club romped into the semifinal of the Second Ruslan Cup 2073 T20 cricket tournament after comfortable wins in their quarterfinal fixtures played on Friday at the TU grounds in Kirtipur.
An unbeaten 60-run knock from opener Sunil Dhamala guided Police to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Himalayan White House College. Similarly, Avinash Karn shone with the ball for Army in its crushing 10-wicket win over Royal PC Fighter.
In the first quarterfinal, put to bat first after losing the toss Himalayan White House was restricted for a paltry total of 98/8. In reply, Police achieved the target in 13 overs for the loss of two wickets.
Opener Sunil made the work light for Police scoring an unbeaten 60 runs from 42 delivieries. The man-of-the-match smashed equal four sixes and four boundaries before reaching 50-run mark facing 39 balls. Aarif Sheikh contributed 27 runs from 21 balls.
Hasim Ansari of Himalayan White House bagged one wicket.
Earlier, Himalayan White House made poor start losing openers Aakash Thapa and Shubendu Pandey for one run each. Hasim Ansari (33 runs) and Pranit Thapa Magar (23 runs) tried to consolidate the innings. However, only Rahul Pratap Singh (18 runs) was the other player to reach double digit figure for the team.
Police bowler Lalit Bhandari and Dipendra Airee pocketed two wickets each. Suil Dhamala, Lalit Rajbanshi and Manjeet Shrestha had their share in one wicket each.
In another match, Royal PC Fighter was bowled out for a meager total of 45 runs in 17 overs by Army after it elected to bat first. In the run chase, openers Sagar Pun cracked unbeaten 36 runs and Sompal Kami was not out on three runs as the departmental team achieved the target in just four overs. Pun cracked seven fours in his 21-ball knock while Sompal faced three balls.
Earlier, opener Din Bahadur Karki (11 runs) was the only batsman for Royal PC Fighter to reach double digit figure which lost other batsmen cheaply.
Army's Avinash Karn came up with impressive figure with ball sending four batsmen to the pavilion. The man-of-the-match Avinash gave away just three runs in his four overs spell that included two maiden overs. Sompal Kami grabbed three wickets and Lokendra Chand pocketed two wickets.
Sudur Paschimanchal Academy (SPA), Dhangadhi will take on Anubhuti Education Foundation of Birgunj and New Horizon Cricket Club of Butwal will vie with Kuleshwar Cricket Club during their last-16 fixtures on Saturday.
Police, Army open with wins in Ruslan cricket
