Extra preparations and security can be visible at the TU International Cricket Stadium when the venue is hosting Sudurpaschim Royals. Representing the far-western province, the region where love for cricket seems unparalleled, the fans in yellow have been the loyalists of the game and the team.

“Sudurpaschim is cricket,” a fan in his late 20s, dressed in Sudurpaschim’s yellow kit from the previous season, said in a queue to enter the stadium. “There are crazy and passionate cricket fans in other regions of Nepal as well. But in Sudurpaschim, it is different. We breathe cricket.”

As the sixth match of the Nepal Premier League, between Sudurpaschim Royals and Pokhara Avengers, began at 4pm, and Royals’ opener Binod Bhandari smashed the third ball of the first over for a four, the cheer hinted that there might not be any fans of the Avengers.

But there were very few fans backing up Pokhara—it was visible when Jimmy Neesham provided the first relief in the middle of the first inning.

“We are blessed to have these fans behind us,” Royals’ head coach Jagat Tamata had said in the post-match conference after the win over Kathmandu Gorkhas on Wednesday.

A similar reason echoed when Royals’ pacer Hemant Dhami shared his opinion on the love from the fans. “Their love makes us nervous,” he said in the post-match conference on Friday. “But it is also what makes us strong.”

Sudurpaschim had a magnificent start to the innings after being asked to bat first. Scoring the second season’s ninth half-century, Brown, with six fours and five sixes, was caught at 10.4 overs after adding 68 off 35 and taking the team’s score to 108 runs.

Australian powerhitter Chris Lynn, who came in at three, then had a cameo, lifting the stadium with a 13-ball 31, which consisted of four fours and two sixes.

The match saw the two Australians—Brown and Lynn—showcase their abilities. It was much needed for them as Brown had departed for a duck while Lynn could only score two runs in their NPL debut, against Kathmandu Gorkhas on Wednesday. Jimmy Neesham was to the rescue of the Avengers on both occasions.

The entry of Royals’ skipper and marquee, Dipendra Singh Airee, further cemented the fact that Sudurpaschim’s fandom was the loudest in the NPL.

Though Airee could not aid much, departing as the third wicket for 15 off 10, a supportive inning from opener Binod Bhandari, who scored 43 runs before departing as the fourth wicket, saw Sudurpaschim at 170 runs in 16.3 overs.

Royals’ first game’s hero, Harmeet Singh (4 off 6), could not repeat his class, while none of the other late comers—Scott Kuggeleijn (8 off 6), Aarif Sheikh (0 off 3), Ishan Pandey (6 off 6) and Naren Saud (4 off 1)—could reach double figures. However, the Royals stood comfortably at the end of 20 overs: 193/7.

Neesham bagged three wickets in total, despite being expensive (47 runs in four overs), while the other two pacers—Dan Douthwaite and Aakash Chand—picked two each.

In turn, Pokhara Avengers had to not only complete NPL’s biggest chase, that too against a good fielding side led by the likes of Airee, but also break through the pressure from the flashy Sudurpaschim fans.

Whether it was the pressure of the chase or a miscommunication, Pokhara’s wicketkeeper batsman—the ‘big man’ Adam Rossington—got run out as his opening partner Dinesh Kharel did not respond to his call for a single.

Rossington departed in dissatisfaction, and Kharel punched his bat for not running. On the other hand, the stadium erupted in joy once again.

The pressure kept mounting, and if it was not for skipper Kushal Bhurtel and the experienced Neesham, the result would have been more devastating for the Avengers. Bhurtel held his ground, while Kharel (6 off 9) and Kiran Thagunna (9 off 8) were back to the pavilion, with Neesham.

Neesham, who was out for a golden duck against Biratnagar Kings in the Royals’ first match of the season on Tuesday, bounced back on Friday.

Smashing Airee for two consecutive sixes in the first two balls of the 12th over, Neesham was only three runs short of his second NPL fifty. But it was Airee who struck back, finding the stumps in his third delivery and sending back Neesham for 47 off 25 (two fours, five sixes). How important Neesham’s wicket was was clear from Airee’s signature celebration—a somersault with one forward and the other backward.

Bhurtel, meanwhile, completed his 50, hitting Kuggeleijn for a four in 15.3 overs. But when he tries hitting another boundary behind the stumps in the very next delivery, Bhurtel misses his unorthodox shot and gets clean bowled at 53 off 32. Bhurtel, who had just completed his consecutive fifty of the season, clearly saw the bails coming out as he was facing behind during the shot, and his disappointment was clear as he kept lying on the ground, requiring Sudurpaschim’s players to console and help him get up.

Douthwaite put up a fight in the end, keeping most of the strikes by not even taking easy singles. However, he too departed at 37 off 16 (one four, five sixes) in the second-to-last ball of the second innings. Pokhara then required 20 runs off the last delivery, and as in-at-ten Aakash Chand managed only a single, the Avengers lost the match by 18 runs.

With two wins, the Royals, runners-up of the first season, are now at the top of the table.

It was a consecutive incident in their first two matches of the 2nd NPL that the Avengers’ bowling led the opponents to post a mammoth total; Biratnagar had posted 220/6 in the first match.

Accepting the shortcomings, Avengers’ coach Rajiv Kumar, in the post-match conference, said that the team missed Raymon Reifer, the left-handed all-rounder from the Caribbean. “We could not bring him due to visa issues,” the coach argued.

“It is now a knockout tournament for us, as we have only five games left after two losses,” Kumar said, adding, “We have nothing to lose [now].”

Before a day off on Sunday, the TU Stadium is hosting two matches on Saturday. Karnali Yaks are facing Lumbini Lions in the first match, and Biratnagar Kings face Kathmandu Gorkhas under the floodlights.