Sudurpaschim Royals secures third consecutive win

Sudurpaschim Royals have claimed a third consecutive win of the tournament to climb top of the Nepal Premier League table in front of loud loyal supporter on Super Saturday.

On the other hand, Lumbini Lions are now languishing at the bottom of the table after three consecutive defeats.

The odds were heavily stacked against the Lumbini Lions when they faced the Royals. The only win for them turned out to be winning the toss and deciding to bowl first. The Royals raced to 47-0 in the Powerplay Skipper Rohit Paudel provided the first breakthrough when he had Binod Bhandari on 17. The wicket-keeper batter once again failed to capitalise on early starts. His scores in this tournament are 23,36,17.

Zaib survived a close lbw call from Rohit on 45 and he bought his first fifty with a scoop over the keeper’s head. Bibek Kumar Yadav got Brandon McMullen within a short ball which surprised the batter. The luck was all in Zaib’s side as he was dropped by Bibek at long on (a tough chance) and survived a run-out chance as keeper Arjun Saud missed an attempt on 68. The left-handed batter eventually fell 10 runs short of what would have been the second century of the season in NPL. Ramon Simmonds was pick of the bowlers with 2/32.