An explosive knock from Sanjay Basnet steered Saipal Academy to a 74-run win over Kathmandu Medical College (KMC) in the College Premier League Twenty20 cricket at the TU Stadium on Sunday.

Saipal rode on a half century from Basnet to post a massive 203-4 in 20 overs before restricting KMC for 129-8. Man-of-the-match Basnet struck unbeaten 62, his 34-ball knock studded with eight boundaries and a six. Opener Ishan Pandey (32), Sumit Maharjan (29 not out), Prashanna Shakya (27), Indra Kamal Manandhar (25) all scored valuable runs to help Saipal amass big total on the board. Navneet Pokharel, Pawan Shrestha and Bimal Sapkota claimed one wicket each for KMC.

In reply, KMC were out of contest halfway through their innings after collecting just 58 runs for four wickets. Prabin Shakya top scored for KMC with 20-ball 26 which included two sixes and as many fours. Milan Thapa chipped in with next best 20. Lokendra Chand snared two wickets, while Srijan Subedi, Ishan Pandey, Sumit Maharjan, Prashanna Shakya and Bijay Gautam claimed one wicket each for Saipal.

In the day’s another game, Capital College and Research Centre (CCRC) beat Pulchowk Engineering College by 78 runs. CCRC opener Anil Mandal laid the foundation for the victory as he scored a composed 55 unbeaten runs in his side’s total of 183-6. Mandal struck eight boundaries in his 44-ball innings. Quick runs from Gyanendra Malla (29), Binod Bhandari (29), Dipendra Airee (21) and Siddhant Lohani (19) then saw CCRC post a huge total. Anil Bartaula took two wickets, while Sumit Jha, Aastik Sharma and Sumant Sah grabbed a wicket each for Pulchowk.

Pulchowk could only scored 92-8 in their allotted 20 overs. Bibek Koirala top scored for Pulchowk with 24 runs while Sumant Sah contributed 20 against the star-studded CCRC team. Basant Regmi was pick of the CCRC bowlers with 3-11, while Mehboob Alam, Prem Tamang and Mandal bagged one wicket each for CCRC.