Army wins the T20 Tournament

Just Nepali Cricket/October 4

In what could be termed as a clash of titans, Nepal Army (NA) Club won the maiden title stunningly beating the defending champions Armed Police Force (APF) Club by five wickets here at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.

The scheduled match delayed and later it reduced to 16 overs per inning due to the rain. APF choose to bat first after winning the toss and manage to score respectable 112 runs losing seven wickets in revised 16 overs. Pradeep Airee contributed highest 27 runs with two four and a six. Dipendra Chaudhary remained not out on 19 runs. Skipper Paras Khadka made 16 runs in just nine balls and Subash Khakurel and Sharad Vesawkar scored 14 and 12 runs respectively.

To restrict the APF team to 112, Rahul BK and Chandra Saud took a couple of wickets each while Avinash Karn, Sagar Pun and Rajesh Pulami took one wicket apiece for NA.

In reply, chasing was not as easy for NA as they lost Sagar Pun on second over the inning but second wicket partnership between Naresh Budhayer and Anil Mandal, which was worth of 43 runs set the platform for finisher, and they won the match by five wickets with four balls remaining. Captain Binod Bhandari stayed unbeaten on 30 runs to guide his team first ever trophy in team's first appearance at national tournament. Opener Anil Mandal made 23 runs in 21 balls. Naresh Budhayer, Rajesh Pulami and Sagar Pun made 13, 12 and 11 runs respectively for the team's victory. For APF, Shakti Gauchan and Paras Khadka took two wickets each while Bhuwan Karki grabbed one wicket.

Results and appearances apart, there were some similarities between the finalists, both featured majority of national cricket players. APF led by national captain Paras Khadka and NA by skipper Binod Bhandari.

AFP's journey to the final was mixture of more easy along with few tough matches.APF had to toil hard particularly against Nepalgunj when APF was bundled out for only 92 runs. However, the match was washed-out by rain. APF struggle against Birgunj as well while batting but manage the victory with bowling effort while other matches were easy for them.

Likewise, debutant Nepal Army (NA) club also had mixed experience in league stage but they easily surpassed the hurdle of semi final, as rain faded the match and they reached final via net run rate calculation. At the beginning, NA struggled on batting as their top order failed to perform consistently. Nevertheless, they rectified previous mistake and proved their worth to win the title. Though this team formed less than a month ago, the team justified Nepal Army's decision to invest in cricket.

Nepal Army (NA) Club received trophy and Rs 125,000 for winning the tournament whereas Runner up, APF got Trophy and Rs 75,000. Batsman Gyanendra Malla of APF declared the Best Batsman for his highest 219 runs in the whole tournament and received trophy and Rs 10000. Likewise, Mahesh Chhetri of Region No. 5 (Nepalgunj) bagged the Player of the tournament for his consistent performance with bat and gloves and received trophy and Rs 15,000.

Similarly, best bowler and NCFC Emerging Player of the tournament prize went to Akash Bista of Region No. 5 (Nepalgunj). He took 15 wickets in five matches and his highlight performance was four wickets haul against APF. Akash got Rs 10000 and trophy for best bowler award along with another trophy and Rs 20000 from Nepali Cricket Fan Club (NCFC).

Binod Bhandari of NA obtained the Player of the final award for his outstanding performance at the title clash.