Ravi Inder Singh slammed a magnificent century to help Bhairahawa Gladiators pull off a remarkable run chase to stun Pokhara Rhinos by four wickets in the Everest Premier League (EPL) twenty20 cricket tournament at the Tribhuvan University Stadium on Sunday. The 31-year-old, who repre-sents Punjab in the Indian domestic cricket, almost single-handedly chased the 216-run target, scoring an unbeat-en 125 of just 60 deliveries with 10 sixes and eight fours. As its star skipper Sharad Vesawkar fell cheaply for six, Aarif Sheikh’s 23 runs was the best individual score for the Gladiators.

Coming in at No 3 in the second over after the dismissal of opener Harishankar Shah, Singh took time to settle in before cutting losing in the latter stages of the game. Englishman Paul Coughlin, Bikram Sob and  Sushan Bhari claimed two wickets each for Rhinos.

Singh’s knock completely overshadowed the innings of South African international Richard Levi, whose brutal hitting laid the foundation for a big Rhinos total. Levi and his opening partner Kyle Coetzer of  Scotland put on a massive 104-run stand in just 8.2 overs as Rhinos posted what appeared a daunting 215-5 total.

Levi, who has represented Proteas in 13 T20 internation-als, clobbered seven sixes and as many fours in his 36-ball 79. Rhinos skipper Coetzer scored 47 off 37 ball with four bound-aries and two sixes. Sunil Dhamala also struck 23-ball 38 and Coughlin 10-ball 20 to help  swell the Rhinos’ total. Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate, the star international recruit of  the Gladiators, claimed just one wicket as did his team-mates Avinash Bohara, Krishna Karki and Indian recruit Puneet Mehra. The 39-year-old Ten Doeschate has represented the Netherlands in 33 ODIs and 10 T20 internationals.

Earlier, Lalitpur Patriots bounced back from its narrow three-wicket defeat against the defending champions Biratnagar Warriors in Saturday’s inaugural match by defeating Chitwan Tigers by 11 runs on Monday. Electing to bat first, Patriots put on 143-5 and restricted Tigers to 132 in 20 overs. With star leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane on its side,  Patriots had team effort to thank for to post the defend-able total on the board. Late cameos from Sonu Tamang and Sandeep Jhora propelled  the Patriots score. Tamang top-scored with an unbeaten 35 off 24 with three sixes and a four, while Jhora clobbered three sixes and a four in his 8 -ball 25 not out.

Indian recruit Gaurav Tomar struck almost run-a-ball 30 while his compatriots Jaykishan Kolsawala (20) and Sunny Patel (19) were also among the runs for Patriots. George Scott, who plays coun-ty cricket with English side Middlesex, took two wickets while Lalit Singh Bhandari, Karan Singh Airee and the Irish international Paul Stirling claimed one wicket each for the Tigers.

Lamichhane and Patel com-bined to derail the Tigers chase taking out top three batsmen early on. Patel clean bowled Dilip Nath (1) in the first over before Lamichhane claimed the prized wicket of Stirling in the very next over to reduce Tigers to 2-2 in 1.2 overs. Lamichhane returned again to trap the former England U-19 international and Lancashire player John  Simpson (13) leg before wicket.

Dipendra Singh Airee and skipper Prithu Baskota dug deep to keep their team in the game but their slow-paced knock eventually turned fatal.  Airee scored 41 off 45 and Baskota contributed 26 off 29. Although Bhim Sharki and Scott played entertaining knocks late on, it only contrib-uted in narrowing the margin of defeat. Sharki struck 21 off  nine balls while Scott remained not out on 18 off nine ball. Man-of-the-match Lamichhane  returned with the figures of 3-26 and Patel took 2-17. Lamichhane was playing his second and final game in EPL as he boarded for  Australia on Sunday night to play in the Big Bash League where he represents  Melbourne Stars.

Summaries

Bhairahawa Gladiators Vs Pokhara Rhinos

Bhairahawa Gladiators 216-6 in 19.4 overs (RI Singh 125*, A Sheikh 23; B Sob 2-25, S Bhari 2-36, P Coughlin 2-50) beat Pokhara Rhinos 215-5 in 20 overs (R Levi 79, K Coetzer 47; P Mehra 1-36, A Bohara 1-33)  by four wickets

Man-of-the-match: Ravi Inder Singh

Lalitpur Patriots Vs Chitwan Tigers

Lalitpur Patriots 143-5 in 20 overs (S Tamang 35*, G Tomar 30; G Scott 2-24, P Stitling 1-23) beats Chitwan Tigers 132-8 in 20 overs (DS Airee 41, P Baskota 26; S Lamichhane 3-26, S Patel 2-17) by 11 runs

Man-of-the-match: Sandeep Lamichhane