KATHMANDU, June 23: Dishant Yadav scored a half century as Nepal Storm registered a one wicket victory over Sri Lankan Lions in the ongoing Asian Club Premier League (ACPL) on Friday.
Dishanta made 50 runs off 42 balls to help Storm meet the target of 149 runs at the loss of nine wickets.
Earlier, batting first, Lions had made a total of 148 runs in 20 overs losing out eight wickets. Meanwhile it was the second straight victory for Storm which is now on top of the table with four points. In the first match Storm had seen off Bangladesh Tigers by seven wickets.
Similarly it was the second straight defeat for Lions which had started the campaign with 53 runs win over Indian Stars. Lions' earlier defeat came on Wednesday, against Dubai Warriors by 21 runs.
Nepal Storm wins ACPL
In the match played at the TU Cricket Ground, Storm couldn't make positive start with its openers Gaurav Barabade (13) and Pawan Chandel (13) failing to make a decent partnership. However, Dishant who came to bat at third number lifted the innings scoring the match's highest run and building up a 35-run partnership with Pawan for the second wicket and 34-run partnership with Haseeb Amjad for the fourth wicket. Likewise, Jitender Sharma collected 31 runs facing 13 balls for the winning side.
Meanwhile, Nishan Samarakkody pocketed two wickets for Lions while Akash Goutal, Vaibhav Arora, Karan Walia, Utsav Chandra and Mohd Nizamuddin claimed one wicket each.
Earlier, Lions made a disastrous start to the innings as opener Akash Goutal was out for a duck while another opener Sandun Samarakoddy scored just six runs. Utsav Chandra collected 40 runs of 30 balls and also built up a 41-run partnership with Shubhanshu Sahu but that was not enough to prevent his team from defeat.
Storm's Haseeb Amjad, Ashish Bisht and Gaurav Barabade claimed two wickets each while Kamal Malwinder added one.
