Sudurpaschim Royals captain Dipendra Singh Airi has scored a half-century in the Nepal Premier League (NPL).
Dipendra scored an unbeaten 57 runs in 24 balls at the Tribhuvan University Ground in Kirtipur on Tuesday. He hit two consecutive sixes off Pratish GC in the last two balls and hit a total of 3 fours and 5 sixes.
After winning the toss, Biratnagar elected to field first, Sudurpaschim scored 182 runs for the loss of 7 wickets with the help of Dipendra’s excellent batting. This is the highest score so far in the ongoing tournament. Sudurpaschim had scored 69 runs in the last five overs.
Before that, Sudurpaschim’s opener could not get going. Amrit Shrestha was out for 1 run in the second over. He was caught by Ismat Alam from Martin Guptill.
Another opener, Binod Bhandari, who scored 23 runs in 20 balls, returned to the pavilion in the fifth over. Bhandari, who hit four boundaries, was caught by Pratish GC off Anil Kharel.
In the next over, Arif Sheikh was dismissed for 9 runs. Arif bowled a ball off Bashir Ahmed and Nicholas Kirton took a brilliant catch.
Then Saif Zaib and Brandon McMullan took charge of the innings for the distance.
Zaib scored 14 runs off 15 balls before being bowled by Anil Kharel. McMullan was dismissed for 36 runs off 26 balls, hitting 2 fours and 2 sixes. He was also caught off Anil Kharel in the 13th over.
After McMullan was dismissed, Ishan Pandey and Deependra Singh Airi put on a 49-run partnership for the sixth wicket. While taking three runs, Ishan Pandey was run out in the fifth ball of the 17th over. Ishan scored 21 runs in 16 balls with the help of 2 fours and 1 six.
Scott Kuggeleijn was dismissed after scoring 10 runs in 6 balls with the help of 2 fours. Basant Khatri, who supported Deependra in the last over, scored 4 runs not out.
In bowling, Anil Kharel of Biratnagar took 3 wickets. Anil, who is playing cricket in Australia, came to Nepal for the APL. He conceded 26 runs in four overs.
Biratnagar captain Sandeep Lamichhane also remained wicketless in the second match of the APL. He conceded 31 runs in four overs against Sudurpaschim.
