POKHARA, Dec 24: Deepak Punia’s all-round performances gave Expert Dhangadhi Blues an outside chance to qualify for the Eliminator after a five-wicket win against Pokhara Paltan during the Namaste Pokhara Premier League (PPL) match played at Pokhara Stadium’s cricket ground in Pokhara on Monday. 

Paltan was shot-out for 79 runs after which Blues completed the chase in 9.1 overs to climb up to the fourth position in the points table.

Indian all-rounder Punia gave a flying start of 16-ball 25 runs which included two fours and a six chasing the paltry total to ensure the second win of the tournament for the franchise after losing against Butwal Blasters, Chitwan Rhinos and Kathmandu Golden Warriors early on in the league. Blues had defeated Biratnagar Titans by five runs in the first match of the league.

Player-of-the-match Punia was aided by Canadian Rodrigo Thomas’s 10-ball 15 runs which included two fours and a six. Likewise, skipper Dipendra Singh Airee scored a 10-ball 13 runs which included three boundaries. Paltan’s Indian seamer Prathamesh Dake and leg-spinner Sarabjit Ladda snapped up two wickets each. Similarly, Lalit Rajbanshi chipped in with a wicket.

Earlier, Paltan won the toss and elected to bat first. Aasif Sheikh, who replaced Ishan Pandey, started fairly well scoring 29-ball 32 runs which included four boundaries. However, wickets kept falling at the other end. Opening batsman Kushal Bhurtel was dismissed for six runs by Kamal Singh Airee. Punia gave the major blows dismissing captain Sharad Vesawkar and Indian batsman Ravi Inder Singh for four runs and a duck respectively to peg back Paltan innings which never recovered.

None of the batsmen were able to reach double figures except Binod Bhandari who scored 12 runs off 15 deliveries before being clean-bowled by Anil Kharel. The left-arm spinners scalped three wickets in the match supported by Punia, Kamal Singh Airee and Sagar Dhakal’s two wickets each. 

The defending champions suffered their fourth defeat in five matches after winning the first match against Warriors on the opening day of the tournament. Likewise, Dhangadhi has climbed to fourth position with a negative net run-rate of 1.069 behind Warriors on third position with positive net run-rate of 1.301. Warriors face Chitwan Rhinos in the respective final group match on Tuesday whereas Butwal Blasters versus Biratnagar Titans will close the group stage on Wednesday. Warriors need a win or a loss with minimal margin to stay on the third position and qualify for the Eliminator whereas Blasters have already confirmed the Eliminator spot.

Paltan captain Vesawkar stressed on poor planning and strategic plans for the poor performance in the leagues. He was not happy with the management of the franchise as well.

“Player contracts were not signed. Plus our couple of foreign players were last moment changes. As a team we were not able to perform as good as we would have liked. Some of our outfield problems reflected in our in-field results. I wouldn’t say it was the main reason but these things are connected.”

 
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