Sharad Vesawkar-led Tez crushed Shakti Gauchan-captained Jagdamba Giants by 97 runs in the final of the inaugural edition of NPL. The victory made Tez richer by Rs 200,000 and runners-up Giants took Rs 100,000.  

An enterprising half century from opener Sanjay Shrestha spurred Tez to 200 all out in 50 overs. Pradhan then made full use of the Fapla grounds pitch that lost life after the first innings to bundle out Giants for just 103 runs in 31.4 overs.

Left arm spinner Bhuwan Karki opened the floodgates for Tez removing opener Amit Shrestha (1) with Giants adding just three runs on the board. Giants briefly recovered from the early setback with a 31-run stand between Mahesh Chhetri (12) and Bhupendra Thapa but Pradhan got rid of both set batsmen in the 15th over.

Pradhan’s double strike, followed by the dismissal of Hasim Ansari (4), saw Giants reeling at 44-4 in 17 overs. Thapa made 22 off 40 with three boundaries. Pradhan then removed Suvendu Pandey (7) reducing Giants to 63-5 in 21 overs.

Naresh Budhayer resisted for a while but his dismissal off Sushil Kandel virtually snatched the match out of Giants’ hands. Naresh made 29 off 34 with three fours and a six. Giants lost their last four wickets for just 23 runs with both Pradhan and Kandel picking up two lower order wickets each.

Man-of-the-final Pradhan finished with the figures of 6-42 from 7.4 overs. It was overall the third six-wicket haul of the tournament after Karki’s 6-40 against Gyanendra Malla-led Colors X-Factors and Sushan Bhari’s 6-35 in Vishal Warriors’ eight-wicket victory over Kantipur Gurkhas in the league stage.

Earlier, Tez total was built around two crucial contributions that began with opener Sanjay’s knock. Tez lost Indra Kamal Manandhar (3) cheaply but Shrestha and Sunny Pun (14) shared 49 runs for the second wicket to give their team an upper hand.

The eventual champions then lost Pun and new man Puspa Thapa (1) adding just one run. Sanjay, however, kept playing his shots and along with Aarif Sheikh (12) took Tez across triple figures with a 42-run partnership.

Tez suffered a major blow losing Sanjay, Aarif and Karki in a space of 12 runs at 118-6. Sanjay made 74 off 77 with eight fours and three sixes.

Skipper Vesawkar avoided the collapse sharing 38 runs with Dipendra Airee, who pushed the team to 200 runs. Vesawkar was Tez’s next best contributor making 45 off 68 with three sixes and a four. Dipendra collected 23 from 51 with a six, while Pradhan hit two boundaries scoring 10 not out from six balls.

Shuvankar Sanyasi was the pick of the Giants bowlers with 3-31 from 10 overs, while Shakti Gauchan (2-25), Som Pal Kami (2-37) and Nizamuddin Halwai (2-50) shared six wickets between them. Prem Tamang also had one scalp.

Under-19 skipper Karki of Tez walked away with the player-of-the-series award

and collected a cash purse of Rs 21,000. He picked up 14 wickets and made 84 runs from seven matches in the tournament.

The NPL will now shift to Kathmandu with the Twenty20 event beginning from June 4-14. Paras Khadka-led Warriors will meet X-Factors in the opening day.

Summary

Panchakanya Tez 200 all out in 50 overs (S Shrestha 74, S Vesawkar 43; S Sanyashi 3-31, S Gauchan 2-25) beat Jagdamba Giants 103 all out in 31.4 overs (N Budhayer 29, B Thapa 22; RK Pradhan 6-42, S Kandel 3-25) by 97 runs