Kathmandu, January 18, 2022
APF defeated Tribhuvan Army Club by 47 runs in the second semifinal of the Prime Minister’s Cup Men’s National Twenty20 Cricket Tournament. After this victory, APF has also confirmed the final clash with Nepal Police.
After Asif Sheikh and Lokesh Bam batted aggressively, APF batted first and gave the Army a target of 231 runs. In reply, Army scored 183 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs.
Although the Army got off to a good start in pursuit of the high target, it could not reach the target due to continuous loss of wickets in between. Hari Bahadur Chauhan and Bhim Sharkey shared 55 runs for the first wicket. But APF captain Sharad Bheswakar took the wickets of Bhim, Hari and then batsman Tul Bahadur Thapa. Bhim scored 35 off 19 balls and Hari scored 22 off 18 balls. Tul Bahadur was out for 2 runs. After Avinash Bohara took the wickets of Kushal Malla and captain Binod Bhandari, Army lost 5 wickets for 70 runs.
After that Rajesh Pulami Magar and Sumit Shrestha shared 57 runs for the sixth wicket to lead Army’s innings. But Bhuvan Karki cut and bowled Rajesh in the 14th over to return the game to APF. Playing 21 balls, Rajesh scored 38 runs with the help of 1 four and 4 sixes. Sumit added 24 runs off 18 balls. Bikram Sob hit 2 sixes in 5 balls and added 14 runs.
Jitendra Mukhiya was dismissed for 1 run. Shahab Alam and Susan Bhari shared an unbeaten 29 runs for the 10th wicket. Shahab scored an unbeaten 21 off 14 balls. Susan added an unbeaten 12 off 10 balls.
APF captain Sharad took 3 wickets for 16 runs in 4 overs. Bhuvan Karki and Avinash Bohara took 2 wickets apiece. Deepak Bohra and Kishore Mahato took one wicket each.
After losing the toss and choosing to bat first, APF lost 2 wickets in 20 overs and scored 230 runs.
Asif Sheikh and Pradip Airy shared 150 runs for the first wicket to give APF a great start. This is the largest partnership in the ongoing competition. Earlier, the pair had shared 120 runs for the first wicket.
After that Lokesh Bam batted explosively and APF added 80 runs in the last 5 overs.
Before that, Asif Sheikh batted aggressively and scored maximum 84 runs. Asif hit 10 fours and 5 sixes in 43 balls. Asif and Pradip shared 150 runs in 15 overs for the first wicket. Opener Pradip played 53 balls and added an unbeaten 57 runs with the help of 7 fours and 1 six.
Lokesh, who was batting at number four, scored 52 runs off 14 balls with sixes and fours. He hit 7 sixes and 2 fours to complete his half century. Lokesh hit an unbeaten 66 off 18 balls with two fours and nine sixes.
Lokesh, who reached the crease after captain Sharad Veshwakar was dismissed in the third ball of the 17th over, hit sixes in a row to Jitendra Mukhiya in three balls of the over. In the 18th over, he hit 1 four and 1 six to Hari Chauhan. In the 19th over, Jitendra again hit three sixes in a row. Then in the 20th over, Susan hit two sixes and a four.
For the third wicket, Lokesh shared an unbeaten 68 off 21 balls with Pradip Airy.
Jitendra Mukhiya and Sumit Shrestha took one wicket each for the Army. But both players
became expensive. Jitendra scored 57 runs in 4 overs while Sumit scored 19 runs in 1 over. It was Sumit who broke the century partnership of Asif and Pradip.
By Karuna Thapa
