Gandaki Province has missed out on a golden opportunity to book a semifinal of the KP Oli T20 Tournament on a home ground. They suffered a narrow loss to Lumbini Province in a closely contested, low-scoring thriller during the first match on Sunday, resulting in their elimination from the tournament.
The Armed Police Force (APF) club has advanced to the next stage thanks to a superior Net Run Rate (NRR). Gandaki defeated APF but they bounced back with a big win over Lumbini. In contrast, Gandaki was unable to overcome Lumbini, leading to their elimination from the competition.
Chasing a mere target of 104 runs, Gandaki were wrapped up for 98 runs in 18.5 overs, falling short by five runs. They were in a pitiful condition of 28/6, however, tailenders stepped up and played a crucial role, injecting intensity into the competition. Despite Sudip Aryal’s impressive 24-ball innings of 35, featuring two fours and four sixes, he was unable to guide his team to victory. Bipin Khatri and Kamal Pariyar also contributed 19 and 11 runs respectively.
Md Hussain picked up four wickets for Lumbini while Ajay Luniya grabbed three.
Earlier, Lumbini managed to score just 103/8 after being put into bat first. Dhurba Sunar and Nar Sarki scored 23 runs each. For Gandaki, Amrit Gurung (3) and Chandra Paudel (2) shared five wickets between them.
Feature Photo – Khabarbaani
