Sudurpaschim Royals defeated their arch-rivals Janakpur Bolts by six wickets at a packed TU International Cricket Stadium in Kirtipur, Kathmandu on Saturday to extend their winning streak to five matches.

The Sudurpaschim vs Janakpur fixture was the most-awaited match of the NPL. The duo’s rivalry reached the peak in the inaugural season when the Bolts defeated the Royals at the most important match—the final.

The Royals had defeated the Bolts by 72 runs, bundling Janakpur out at a paltry 51 runs, in the league stage of the first season. When they met in Qualifier 1 as the top two teams, the Royals defeated the Bolts again, this time by eight wickets, and entered the final. As the Bolts won their Qualifier 2 fixture against Karnali Yaks, the two hurtled towards the final showdown. And this time, the Bolts rose to the occasion, defeating the Royals by five wickets and walking home with the title.

Fast forward a year, the defending champions have not had a good start to the second season. The Bolts were on a three-match losing streak when they faced the Royals, who were on a four-match winning streak, in the weekend. And as in the last season, the Bolts could not beat the Royals in the league stage. Further, after the loss, Janakpur’s chance for a place in the top four ended, while the Royals have ensured a spot in the playoffs with two matches in hand. The defending champions are winless in four matches.

Sudurpaschim now have 10 points from five wins in five matches. Even if they lose the next two matches, there are no teams who can, despite winning their respective remaining matches, relegate the Royals from the top four.

Janakpur’s batting woes continue

Janakpur was only the third team of the season to win the toss and elect to bat first after Pokhara Avengers and Karnali Yaks. Pokhara had benefitted from the decision, winning the fixture against the Bolts on Thursday, while the Yaks had suffered a three-wicket defeat against Biratnagar Kings on Friday.

The Bolts had rested their skipper Anil Kumar Sah in the match against the Royals, and gave the responsibility to the experienced Wayne Parnell, the South African pacer.

Batting first, the Bolts posted their biggest score of the season on the board, but it was not enough. The title defenders’ biggest total this season has been 130, in two instances, and they posted 145/8 on the board on Saturday.

Sanjay Krishnamurthee’s half-century and Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton’s 39 off 33 helped the Bolts to the total while the other batting order failed to contribute sufficiently. Abinash Bohara was the hero with the ball for the Royals as he picked four wickets. Similarly, Scott Kuggeleijn picked three, while skipper Dipendra Singh Airee took one.

In turn, the Bolts showed resolve when Maaz Sadaqat sent Royals’ opener Josh Brown back for a diamond duck. Brown was clean bowled in the very first ball of the second innings. Chris Lynn also departed in the next over, getting caught out in the spell of Krishnamurthi, leaving the team at 1/2. However, Binod Bhandari and Ishan Pandey rescued the Royals from the tough situation.

Bhandari and Pandey built a 92-run third-wicket partnership before the former departed at 42 off 49. Pandey, on the other hand, departed only after completing his fifty. Airee (10 off 7) and Singh (25 off 10) were at the crease as the Royals ensured their fifth successive win.

With 16 runs required from 18 deliveries, Singh started the 18th over, which was being bowled by one of Nepal’s most economical bowlers Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, with two consecutive sixes. A dot in the third ball, but Singh completed the chase with a maximum in the fourth ball of the over to win the game by six wickets.

Lumbini’s third win in NPL

Lumbini Lions had the worst campaign in the inaugural NPL last year. They had only managed one win in their seven games, finishing last in the points table.

However, in the second season, the Lions began with a win, defeating Chitwan Rhinos by six wickets on November 20. But in the next three games against Karnali Yaks, Kathmandu Gorkhas and Sudurpaschim Royals, the Lions were on the receiving end of the defeat, increasing the chances of repeating the same fate again.

They bounced back in their fifth match of the second season, defeating Pokhara Avengers by three wickets to register their second win on Saturday.

Lions’ skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel elected to bowl first, and his bowlers backed him up. Pokhara lost four wickets by the end of the eighth over, all for single figures. Opener Dinesh Kharel (7 off 11) was the highest scorer out of the four; Trit Raj Das could only open his account; skipper Kushal Bhurtel departed for a golden duck; and Sumeet Verma could not open his account before struck leg before in the fifth delivery.

However, Adam Rossington, Kharel’s opening pair, was standing firmly, and he got James Neesham in support. From 33/4 in eight overs, Rossington and Neesham had a 92-run partnership for the fifth wicket, before the former departed in 18.2 overs. Rossington played more than half of the deliveries of the first innings, and was back to the pavilion after contributing 81 off 63, which consisted of seven fours and five sixes.

Sher Malla and Tilak Bhandari bagged two wickets each for the Lions, while Gulbadin Naib picked one.

Neesham, on the other hand, ensured that the team reached the 150-run mark. Neesham, who was playing his last match of the season and marked it with an individual half-century, said that the team was positive of defending the total on the ‘challenging surface’. “Very disappointing start in the tournament with only one win in four matches,” Neesham said in the post-match conference. “We did a good job with the bat, but we failed to do so with the ball.”

The Avengers had a good start with the ball, sending the Lumbini openers—Sumit Maharjan (0 off 2) and D’Arcy Short (7 off 13)—back for a paltry, with Bipin Khatri striking in both instances. But the Avengers could not be consistent with the ball.

The third-wicket partnership of 54 runs between captain Paudel and wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella, who departed for 37 off 22, saw the team reach 76 runs in 10.2 overs. When Paudel (40 off 36) departed as the fifth wicket in 14.1 overs, following Dilip Nath (10 off 6), the Lions had just posted 100 runs on the board.

Sundeep Jora (25 off 22) was the one who stayed on the crease to ensure the win for the Lions. He smashed two fours in the last over of the innings by Matt Taylor that won the match for the Lions with three wickets and two balls remaining.

“We won, but it was not satisfactory,” Lumbini’s assistant coach Subash Khakurel said after the win. “It, however, was a must-needed win to stay alive in the tournament.”

The win over Pokhara, who suffered their third defeat in four games, saw Lumbini climb to fifth position in the table.

The NPL will see only one match on Sunday as Karnali face Kathmandu. There is a rest day on Monday.