KATHMANDU, Jan 6: Kushal Malla’s record-breaking century helped the departmental team Tribhuvan Army Club register a whopping 108 runs over Armed Police Force (APF) Club in the first Group D match of the Manmohan Memorial (MM) Cup National One-Day Cricket Tournament in Sunsari on Sunday.
At the Inaruwa Cricket Ground, after winning the toss and electing to bat first, left-handed Malla completed his century in 53 deliveries, fastest in Nepal’s domestic cricket, to break multiple records including 13 sixes, which is the most by a batsman in an innings.
He went on to score 111 runs in 63 deliveries helping Army post 281 in 46 overs before dismissing APF for 173 runs to secure the first win.
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Anil Kumar Mandal’s 41 runs off 88 deliveries which included four boundaries was the second top-score of the Army innings. He shared a partnership of 85 runs with Malla. Likewise, Rohit Kumar Paudel chipped in with 26 runs off 31 deliveries and shared a partnership of 72 runs with Malla who was in devastating form on the day.
Similarly, Rajesh Pulami Magar, batting at number eight, gave late flurry to the innings scoring 24-ball 38 runs including two sixes and two fours to help Army reach the winning total.
Captaining the side, Basant Regmi scalped four wickets whereas Amar Singh Routela picked up two wickets during the innings. Likewise, Avinash Bohora and Surya Tamang shared a wicket each, whereas Pradeep Airee was introduced as the eighth bowler of the innings to finally clean-bowl Malla.
Later, Shahab Alam registered four wickets in nine overs in the match conceding 31 runs off it to lead the bowling attack which dismissed APF for 173 runs in 39.3 overs. The Police batsmen got to a fine start but failed to capitalize going forward.
Prithu Baskota and Shankar Rana looked the most proficient ones with their 36 and 32 runs respectively during the chase. Sumit Maharjan and Sandeep Jora contributed 23 runs each whereas Pradeep Airee was dismissed for 21. Likewise, captain Regmi scored 17 runs as APF failed to develop any threatening partnership during the chase. Aasif Sheikh, Routela and Tamang failed to open their accounts.
The player-of-the-match Malla, the destroyer with bat, came back to take two wickets of Maharjan and Jora in a day belonged to the all-rounder. Similarly, Bikram Sob, Susan Bhari and Bhim Sarki shared a wicket each.
