Madhesh Province defeated Karnali Province by five wickets at the Ramjanaki Multipurpose Ground in Janakpur on Monday. With the result, Madhesh stayed firm at the top of the points table in the Men’s PM Cup.

Madhesh now have three wins in four games, same as Tribhuvan Army Club. Madhesh’s first match of the tournament, on March 21, against Koshi was abandoned due to rain. Similarly, Army’s match against APF on March 28 was also obstructed by rain.

Madhesh and Army have seven points in four games. Madhesh have bested Army in net run rate.

Aashik Baitha was the hero with the ball for Madhesh against Karnali.

Diwan Pun, Karnali’s skipper, won the toss and elected to bat first. There were only four batters who could reach the double digits for Karnali, and three of them fell victims to Baitha.

A left-arm spinner, Baitha bagged four wickets in his 10 overs, conceding only 34 runs. From Arjun Gharti (24 off 34) and Pun (12 off 11) to the dangerous Karnali opener Rabindra Shahi (40 off 51), Baitha sent them back to the pavilion.

And then with two wickets each, Arniko Yadav and Bishal Patel helped Madhesh bundle out Karnali at 129 runs in 31.2 overs.

Baitha was the only bowler for Madhesh to complete his 10-over spell. He was later adjudged the player of the match.

In turn, two of Madhesh’s best batters—skipper Anil Kumar Sah (1 off 8) and Mohammad Adil Alam (0 off 8)—returned early.

However, there were many batters with abilities in Madhesh’s squad. As a result, Madhesh chased the target of 130 in less than half of the allocated overs.

Mayan Yadav (24 off 22), Niraj Yadav (38 off 59), Pawan Sarraf (17 off 26) and Arniko (32 off 25) scored sufficiently as Madhesh reached 131/5 in 24.5 overs.

On the other hand, Sudurpashchim defeated Lumbini by 12 runs in the other match of the day to stay close to the top two positions.

The 10 participating teams are aiming for the top two spots as they qualify for the final after the completion of a single round-robin league stage.

It was the third win in four matches for Sudurpashchim at TB Shah Cricket Ground in Birgunj. The western-most province now have six points, and are third at the points table.

Sudurpashchim’s only loss so far was against Madhesh on March 25.

Winning the toss, Lumbini’s acting captain Aakash Tripathi, who replaces Dev Khanal in the role, decided to field first.

The highest individual score for Sudurpashchim was Dipak Bohara’s 30 off 55, which was followed by Hemant Dhami’s 29 off 44. And with 23 extras acting as the third highest score for Sudurpashchim, they managed 168 runs on the board in 45.4 overs.

Santosh Yadav and Ajay Chauhan picked four wickets each for Lumbini.

Despite an average target to chase, Lumbini struggled with the bat.

The early batters of Lumbini—Tripathi (2 off 19), Ranjeet Khadka (11 off 17), Dinesh Bohora (1 off 3) and Sumit Shrestha (7 off 18)—failed to score enough.

Lumbini were in the chase until Santosh Yadav was at the crease. Alongside a four-wicket haul, Santosh smashed 67 off 84 for Lumbini.

When Santosh departed as the ninth wicket in 40.1 overs, Lumbini required 13 runs to win. But the last batter Ajay Chauhan got caught out for a golden duck in the very next delivery.

The two fixtures on Monday saw all the teams in the tournament complete four matches each.

Nepal Police Club are fourth with five points in four games, and are followed by Lumbini, Karnali, APF and Gandaki with three points each.

Bagmati and Koshi are the ninth and tenth teams on the table, with two and one points each in four games, respectively.

Desperate for a first win, Koshi will face Police in the only match on Tuesday in Birgunj.