Nepal Police Club registered a thumping 103-run win over Mayor's XI to enter into the final of Kathmandu Mayor's Cup one-day cricket tournament at the TU grounds in Kirtipur on Wednesday.

Put into bat first, Police garnered 197-10 in 47.4 overs. In bowling, Pawan Sarraf claimed four wickets for the departmental teams as they bowled out the Sandeep Lamichhane-led Mayor's XI for 94 runs in 31.2 overs.

With the outcome, Police moved to top the standings with six points and guaranteed a top two finish after playing all four group matches. They also became the first team to secure a place in the final as only the top two teams at the end of the league book tickets for Saturday's final.

Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club are in second place with four points while Tribhuvan Army Club, Bagmati Province and Mayor's XI are third to fifth respectively with two points each in their kitty. The bottom three teams are separated by net run rates.

If APF win their Thursday's last match against Mayor's XI, they would be assured of a place in the final, sending the remaining three teams out of the race for summit clash. But if APF lose their match, the door will open for three teams including APF, Mayor's XI and the winners between Bagmati and Army. In such a situation, APF, Mayor's XI and the winning side between Bagmati and Army all will have four points apiece and the team finishing with better net run rate would qualify as the second finalists.

Police middle order batsman Yogendra Singh Karki scored the highest 40 runs off 55 balls. He hit four fences before being stumped by Khadak Bohara. The departmental team openers Kushal Bhurtal contributed 34 runs and Sunil Dhamala hit 22 runs as the duo put a 56-run partnership for the first wicket before the latter was dismissed.

Bhurtel cracked three boundaries and sixes each in his 29-ball knock before he was stumped by Bohara off Hari Shankar Shah. Police batsmen Dipendra Singh Airee and Pawan Sarraf were other remarkable contributors scoring 24 runs and 28 runs. Dilip Nath scored 12 runs.

Mayor's XI bowlers Bipin Khatri, Harishankar Shah and captain Lamichhane grabbed three wickets each. While Lamichhane conceded 35 runs in his 10-over bowling, Shah conceded 28 runs with two maiden overs in his 9.4 over spell. Khatri gave away 54 runs in his nine overs bowling with a maiden over.

Mayor's XI made a shaky start to their innings as they lost their first five batsmen without touching double digit figures as the score read 5-33 on board. Lower middle order players Krishna Karki, captain Lamichhane and Siddhant Lohani were the only players to touch two digit figures. Karki scored 19 runs, Lamichhane contributed 26 runs, the highest in the innings and Lohani made 18 runs.

Sarraf was the pick of Police bowling with four wickets under his belt. He gave away 16 runs in his 6.2 bowling overs with a maiden over. Dipendra Singh Airee grabbed three wickets while Lalit Rajbanshi claimed two.

There will be two matches on Thursday with Bagmati taking on Army at the TU grounds while APF will vie with Mayor's XI.