Janakpur Royals confirmed a qualifier spot with a comfortable six-wicket win over Pokhara Avengers in their penultimate league match of the Nepal T20 League at the TU ground in Kirtipur on Thursday.

Janakpur bowled out Pokhara, which had been put into bat, for a paltry total of 68 runs in 12 overs after Sompal Kami grabbed three early wickets and then raced to victory scoring 70-4 off only nine overs.

The outcome assured a second qualifier spot for Janakpur as the league runners up at 12 points, four points behind table toppers Lumbini All Stars with both sides having a match in hand. Pokhara have six points and are placed fifth in the six-team contest which sends the top four teams into the playoffs.

Pokhara had a troubled start to their innings after they lost top order batters cheaply. Opener Sumit Maharjan (1), Aarif Sheikh (2) and Upul Tharanga (0) were dismissed by Kami with the scoreboard reading 3-18.

Lower middle order batter Siddhanta Lohani scored a 10-ball 17, the highest of the innings while Kushal Malla and opener Aasif Sheikh both contributed 16 runs each. None of the other batters failed to reach double digit figures.

Janakpur’s medium pacer Kami, also the player-of-the-match, returned with economical match figures of 2-0-8-3 while Lalit Rajbanshi and Sharafuddin Ashraf also shared two wickets each.

Chasing the low total, Janakpur’s openers Ashraf and captain Trevon Griffith made light work of Pokhara Avengers’ bowling attack, sharing a 57-run stand for the opening wicket. Afghani all-rounder Ashraf scored 37 runs off 27 balls that included three hits to the fence and three sixes. He was bowled by Kushal Malla. Griffith played for a 13 ball 17 which comprised three hits to the fence before Kushal Malla had the West Indies’ batter caught by Pratish GC.

Malla was the pick of the Pokhara bowlers claiming three wickets in his three-overs spell, conceding only 10 runs.

Far West United pull off second win

Placed at the bottom of the table, Far West United pulled off their second victory in eight matches defeating the third-placed Kathmandu Knights by 83 runs in the late fixture of the day to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Batting first, Afghani opener Hashmatullah Shahidi and Binod Bhandari shared the tournament’s record partnership of 157 runs for the opening wicket as they posted a mammoth score of 197-4 and restricted Kathmandu to 114-9 in its chase.

Despite the win, Far West remained at rock bottom with four points after eight games. Kathmandu are placed third with eight points and could be assured of a playoff spot with victory over Biratnagar Super Kings in their last game on Saturday.

Far West captain Shahidi smashed a 57-ball 76, the highest of the innings, studded with five hits to the fence and four sixes. The player-of-the-match Shahid, who also bagged two wickets, was caught by Alex Blake off Bashir Ahamad.

Nepali international Bhandari smashed 73 off 44 that included six boundaries and five sixes before Ahamad caught him off a delivery by Abinash Bohara. Karan KC remained unbeaten on 22 runs, facing eight deliveries.

Kathmandu bowler Ahamad picked up three wickets in his four-over spell, conceding 24 runs.

Chasing the target, the Kathmandu lower order batter Kamal Airee scored 20 runs, while captain Gyanendra Malla and Sandeep Rajali contributed 17 runs each. Suman Gautam (16) and opener Virandeep Singh (14) were the other batters to get to double digit scores.

Apart from Shahidi, Karan KC and Durgesh Gupta of Far West also took two wickets each.

Today’s Matches