Lumbini Province, hosts of the seventh edition of the Men’s PM Cup, have moved forward as the best provincial team in the tournament. Out of the seven provincial teams, Lumbini are the only team to challenge the three departmental clubs as of Day 9.

Lumbini registered their fourth win in five games defeating Madhesh Province in Lamahi, Dang, by 83 runs on Sunday. The win propelled Lumbini to the third position in the points table besting Armed Police Force (APF) Club. The other six provincial teams only have one win until Day 9.

APF lost their third position on Day 9 after losing to Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) at Extratech Cricket Oval; it was APF’s second loss in five games. Second-placed TAC now have 10 points from five games; however, they are below Nepal Police Club (NPC) on net run rate.

NPC registered their fifth consecutive win in the edition defeating Sudurpaschim Province by 61 runs at Siddhartha Cricket Stadium. NPC now have 12 points.

Aakash Tripathi’s 73 off 123 helped Lumbini reach 158 runs in 46 overs. They defended the low total bundling out Madhesh at 75 runs in 26.5 overs.

Similarly, NPC failed to put up a decent total against Sudurpaschim as they got all out for 160 runs in 47 overs. Meanwhile, a six-wicket haul by spinner Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi allowed NPC to bundle out Sudurpaschim for 99 runs in 28.3 overs.

Rajbanshi has been consistent in the last three games. Before the six-wicket haul against Sudurpaschim, he bagged 5/28 against Madhesh on March 15 and 6/18 against APF on March 14.

With 21 wickets in five games, Rajbanshi is the leading wicket-taker in the seventh edition.

Meanwhile, Aarif Sheikh’s 40 off 64 for NPC led him to become only the sixth player to score over 1,000 runs in Men’s PM Cup history.

On the other hand, Sundeep Jora’s 65 off 91 helped APF post the target of 142 runs against TAC. APF had a good start; TAC lost their seventh wicket at 87 runs in 25.2 overs.

But Kushal Malla (31 off 59), who was sent at eight, partnered with in-at-nine Sompal Kami (22 off 51) to register TAC’s fifth consecutive win and prevent their first loss of the edition.