Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) and Nepal Police Club (NPC) notched up convincing victories in the first Ruslan Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament at the TU Stadium on Monday.

TAC rode on a half century from Sharad Vesawkar and four-wicket haul from Bikram Sob to crush PC Fighters by 110 runs. NPC hammered SS Event by eight wickets.

The Armymen recovered from 80-4 to reach 165-5  before Sob demolished the middle order, bundling out Fighters for just 55 in 16.2 overs. Sumit Dhwoj Chand top scored with a 44-ball 16  for Fighters, while Prakash Thakur was their next best scorer with 12 runs.

Man-of-the-match Sob returned the figures of 4-13 from four overs. Vesawkar and Sagar Pun also picked up two wickets each for the winning team.

Opener Anil Mandal chipped in a 24-ball 29 with five boundaries from the top order but TAC were not yet safe. Vesawkar then shared 79 runs for the fifth wicket with Rajesh Pulami guiding TAC to a big total.  Vesawkar struck fours boundaries and two sixes in his 42-ball 55. Pulami’s 22-ball 33 included two sixes and as many fours. Sabin Shakya and Anup Oli took two wickets each for Fighters.

In an 18-over game, allrounder Manjeet Shrestha took four wickets as SS Event were 67 all out in 17.3 overs. A strong start from openers Sunil Dhamala and Amit Shrestha guided NPC to 72-2 in 12.2 overs. Dhamala and Shrestha added 53 runs for the first wicket before the former lost his wicket. Dhamala made 31 off 36 with four boundaries.

Shrestha contributed 26 not out off 29 with four boundaries, while Siddhant Lohani remained unbeaten on 13. Praveen Joshi picked up both NPC wickets to fall.

Earlier, Suman Uday top scored with a 28-ball 19 with two fours, while Nischal Chaudhary (12), Sonu Tamang (13) and Ajay Rajbanshi (11) were other batsmen to reach double figures. Man-of-the-match Shrestha took 4-16 from 3.3 overs. Dhamala also snared two wickets for NPC.