Madhesh Province secured a spot in the KP Oli T20 Tournament final after surprising the departmental team Armed Police Force (APF) Club with an 11-run victory in the second semifinal held in Pokhara.
Tribhuwan Army Club emerged victorious in the first semifinal against Bagmati Province. Army and Madhesh will battle for the title on Friday with the match set to kick off at 11:00 AM at Pokhara Rangashala.
Opting to bat first, Madhesh Province piled up a massive score of 197/7 in 20 overs. Anil Sah and Imran Sheikh both scored a half-century after Harishankar Shah’s departure in the fourth over. The duo shared 92 runs for the second wicket with Sah notching up 36-ball 57 (with six biggies) and Sheikh scoring 50 off 32-ball. Pawan Sarraf (19-ball 33), Rupesh Singh (21 runs from eight balls) and Himansu Dutta (seven-ball 15) also played an attacking cameo.
Mousam Dhakal despite conceding 47 runs, grabbed three wickets for APF. Amar Singh Routela pocketed two whilst Puran BK grabbed one.
In reply, APF posted a score of 186/9, narrowly missing the target by 11 runs. Pradeep Airee and Sundeep Jora both notched up half-centuries, and Lokesh Bam played an aggressive inning; however, it proved insufficient to propel APF to victory.
Skipper Airee made 55 runs whilst Jora scored 54 runs from 31 balls with the help of five biggies. Lokesh Bam also smacked 15-ball 32 with a couple of sixes.
For Madhesh, Bishal Patel was the standout bowler, grabbing three wickets. Pradip Paswan and Harishankar Shah also picked up two wickets each.
