Winning the toss, NMB elected to bowl first and restricted Nepal SBI for 60/2 in allotted five overs. Min Bahadur Gurung (22 off 11 balls), Monish Kumar Shrestha (16 not out off 8 balls) and Dipesh Parajulu (11 off 11) led the SBI batting.
Monish’s 2/13 nearly turned the match in SBI favor but before he would his over, NMB had already created the foundation. Mohan KC (20 off 10) and Ujjwal Pradhan (18 off 9) were on top the bowlers for first three overs.
Sameer Chhetri finished off the match with nine runs in three balls to give NMB the championship in the annual event.
Earlier, NMB had a lucky escape in the semifinal when they defended 62/4 to register a seven-run victory over Nabil Bank. With captain’s knock from Ujjwal (19 off 10) and 16 extras, NMB had scored 62.
Nabil’s Laxman Charan Joshi (22 not out of 15) could not take the team to the final as NMB bowled tightly. Nabil was restricted to 55/2.
In other semifinal, Nepal SBI registered an easy 21-run victory over NIC Bank. Riding on Monish’s 33 of 12 balls and Min’s 21 off 9 balls, SBI posted 71/1 and restricted NIC to 50/5. Once again, Monish (1/7) and Min (1/7) bowled tightly for SBI.
Monish was later adjudged man of the series for his 125 runs and five wickets in six matches until the semifinals. Sangram Bikram Shah of Nepal Investment Bank (5 wickets in 4 matches) was declared the best bowler while the award of best batsman was given to Avinash Chhetri of Standard Chartered Bank for his 134 in four matches.
NMB Bank organizes ‘6th NMB Bank Heritage Walk’