Off-spinner Sushan Bhari’s five-wicket haul guided Tribhuvan Army Club to a nine-wicket win over Lumbini Province in men’s T20 cricket at the Ninth National Games on Tuesday.

Sent to field first after losing the toss, Army restricted Lumbini to 85-9 in the stipulated 19 overs thanks to Bhari’s match figures of 5-13 that also included a hat-trick. Hari Chauhan grabbed two wickets to polish Army’s destructive bowling.

Lumbini gambled at the TU Cricket Ground electing to bat but they found themselves in trouble early after Sompal Kami and Bhari removed openers Prajjwol Thapa for 3 and Dev Khanal for 13.

Bhari then combined with Chauhan, who took two wickets, to flatten Lumbini’s batting order.

Sandeep Rijali hit two fours and one six in his 16-ball 15 knock but Chauhan cut short his stay after having him caught by Bhim Sharki in the fourth delivery of the seventh over. Chauhan also sent back Saurav Khanal for nought in the ninth over.

Lumbini’s top scorer captain Krishna KC fought hard with unbeaten 28 to push the score to a respectable total.

But merciless Bhari hit back hard with a hat-trick removing Basir Ahamad (13), Tul Bahadur Thapa and Dhan Shahi in the first three balls of the 15th over.

Anil Kharel was the last casualty, caught behind off Aakash Chand.

Chauhan also shone with the bat in the run chase, scoring a quick-fire 35 off 20 balls that included four fours and two sixes, and put on a 47-run stand for the first wicket with Arjun Saud who chipped in not out 28.

Sharki contributed 18 runs facing 14 deliveries as Army comfortably reached the target in 10.3 overs.

The win sends Army level with Nepal Police Club on six points at top of group ‘A’. The departmental rivals meet each other in Kirtipur on Wednesday in a match that could decide the group winner.

Earlier at the same venue, Karnali Province, whose two matches were called off due to rain, defeated Madhesh Province in a low-scoring thriller to pull off their first win of the tournament.

Despite Mohammad Aadil Alam taking five wickets and opener Harishankhar Shah smashing 48, Madhes fell flat against the Karnali resistance.

Sent to bat first after losing the toss, Karnali were skittled out for just 114 after medium pacer Adil Alam’s lethal bowling troubled Karnali from the start. Adil Alam took the scalp of opener Nischal Rawal (4) to cause early damage.

The 18-year-old bowler also took three wickets in the 16th over removing Suwash Ayer (5), Prakash Jaishi (19) and Diwan Pun (0) in the second, fifth and sixth deliveries, respectively, to shake Karnali’s batting line up.

Madhesh’s only standout batter Shah also pocketed two wickets to restrict Karnali to a low total.

Shah stood his ground cracking three fours and one six in his 42-ball 48 knock in the run chase but other batters failed to offer support to Shah as Madhesh could only manage 111-9 and succumbed to a second straight loss.

Dinesh Adhikari returned the match figures of 3-16 while Diwan Pun and Rabindra Shahi picked two wickets each.

APF, Bagmati bow out without playing a match

APF Club and Bagmati Province bow out of semi-finals contention without playing a match after all four of their fixtures were abandoned due to rain.

APF and Bagmati each have four points, all obtained from washed out matches.

APF were scheduled to play Sudurpaschim Province at Mulpani Cricket Ground on Tuesday but the match was called off due to rain. The game between Nepal Police Club and Gandaki Province, also scheduled at Mulpani, was also cancelled. All 11 matches of the men’s T20 cricket scheduled at Mulpani have so far failed to yield results.

The National Sports Council (NSC) had held a meeting with the participating teams, their coach and captain on Tuesday evening to discuss the rain-affected tournament and explore the possibilities of rescheduling the cancelled fixtures. However, after Army’s opinion contradicted with other nine teams who had agreed to date adjustment, the NSC decided to continue the game as per the schedule and the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) and International Cricket Council (ICC) regulation.

NRNA Sports Academy did not participate in the meeting.

It means, NRNA, who have five points, and Sudurpaschim, who have four points but are second in the five-team group ‘B’ due to superior run rate over APF and Bagmati, have qualified for the semi-finals.

Province 1, who have three points, have also exited the tournament.