The fans of Sudurpaschim Royals, the franchise representing the far western region of the country, owned the TU International Cricket Stadium in Kathmandu during the match against the home side, Kathmandu Gorkhas, on Wednesday. “I am so thankful for these fans,” the Royals’ head coach Jagat Tamata said in the post-match conference after the win. “It is a blessing to have these fans as a backup.”

Sudurpaschim, who were invited to bat first after Kathmandu won the toss, had a start they would never want to remember and repeat again. The Royals lost the openers—Josh Brown and Binod Bhandari—for a duck in the very first over, bowled by the Gorkhas’ skipper Karan KC.

And the wound only got deeper when the Australian powerhitter, Chris Lynn, also departed for a paltry. The Big Bash League’s all-time leading run scorer, Lynn could only manage 2 off 10 in his NPL debut as he was caught by Milind Kumar, again in the spell of KC. Sudurpaschim were then at 4/3.

The stadium could only hear a decent cheer when the wickets kept falling. There was a curiosity: How many fans of Sudurpaschim, currently the Nepali region with the most number of cricket fanatics, were present today?

The answer started coming only after Ishan Pandey scored the first boundary for the inaugural season’s runners-up in 3.5 overs. Pandey and Aarif Sheikh gave a few moments for the Sudurpaschim fans to cheer, sharing a 23-run partnership before the former departed as the fourth wicket in the last ball of the sixth over.

And when Pandey (11 off 9) was leaving the crease to give way for the new batsman, Sudurpaschim fans, waving their yellow flags, roared like the stadium belonged to them. It was not a disrespect to Pandey, but for the hopes that Dipendra Singh Airee, one of the world’s best T20I all-rounders nicknamed ‘Tiger’ by the fans, was bringing. And Airee gave justice to those hopes.

Airee lost Aarif (25 off 24) after a 25-run partnership for the fifth wicket, but he got a better deal in the form of Harmeet Singh, the left-handed bowling all-rounder from the USA, who was born and raised in the cricketing scene of Mumbai, India.

Singh had represented India’s national U19 and ‘B’ teams before debuting for the USA in April last year. His batting stats do not speak much, but it changed on Wednesday at TU Stadium when Singh smashed six sixes and two fours to complete his half-century, his first in the shortest format, in just 19 deliveries. Meanwhile, Airee was applauding for Singh’s 50 from the dugout as he had departed, after adding 39 off 30 (3 fours, 1 six), an over earlier as the seventh wicket. The duo had amassed a crucial 61-run partnership for the seventh wicket.

But Singh joined Airee soon as he got out in the very next ball after completing his fifty with a four. When Singh departed, Sudurpaschim were at 142/9, and his performance with the bat was sufficient for him to nurture a strong bond with the fans, who had started cheering his name.

KC bagged his fourth wicket of the match, with Abinash Bohara getting bowled, in the last ball of the inning, and restricted Sudurpaschim to 147.

“From losing three early wickets to posting 147 on the board, it was a good comeback for us, as it was a defendable target,” Tamata added.

While it was a chaseable target for Gorkhas, it was also a defendable total for Sudurpaschim. However, despite coming to the stadium on Wednesday after a five-wicket win over the defending champions, Janakpur Bolts, in the season opener on Monday, the Gorkhas could not give momentum to the win.

“Karan did very well with the new ball, taking three early wickets,” Gorkhas’ head coach Monty Desai said in the conference. “But it was Harmeet’s day, with both the bat and ball.”

Singh, who made a fierce 50 with the bat, picked two wickets, giving away only 21 runs in his four-over spell.

“The turning point of the match was Scott Kuggeleijn’s two wickets (of KC and Rashid Khan) in the 16th over,” Tamata continued. “But no one can forget the inning of Harmeet. He was brilliant today.”

Singh had picked two crucial wickets, one of Aakash Tripathi (34 off 30) and the other of Mohammad Adil Alam, who was struck leg before for a golden duck. Alam, the most sought-for player in the auction, would have been a danger for Sudurpaschim had Singh not struck early. Hemant Dhami also bagged two wickets for the Royals, while Ishan Pandey, Naren Saud and Abinash Bohara picked one each.

After Tripathi, John Simpson was the other player who showed some fighting spirit, but he too departed at 24 off 18. And other than Milind Kumar (11 off 14) and Sunny Patel (10 off 7), there were no other Kathmandu batters who managed to score in double figures, as they were bundled out for 118 in 16.5 overs.

As Airee took the catch of Patel to end the chase for Kathmandu, the stadium erupted with the voices of the yellow.

“I have belief in these players,” Desai said after the loss, with a happy face to be at the TU International Cricket Stadium, a venue the former Nepali men’s head coach is familiar with. “In 2023, I never expected TU Stadium to get such a major facelift, but now the dream is a reality. I think the groundstaff and others are happier to see this upgrade.”

Similarly, Desai, who has prepared a ‘happy dressing room’ for the players at the team’s hotel, argued that the team will be reflecting on ‘accountability’.

Nonetheless, despite the win, Sudur’s coach Tamata argued that the dew would be a major factor in the upcoming days. “There’s not much dew now,” he said. “But in the next 10 days or so, it will be a major concern.”

TU Stadium will see Lumbini Lions facing Chitwan Rhinos on Thursday. It will be the first match for the Lions.