Nepal T20 League - Lumbini All Stars Suffer First Defeat As Pokhara Avengers Register Thumping Win

Pokhara Avengers, on Saturday (December 31), thrashed Lumbini All Stars by 9 wickets to register their second win in the ongoing Nepal T20 League.

And while Avengers registered their second win, All Stars suffered their first defeat of the competition after winning 5 matches in a row.

All Stars now have 5 wins and a loss while Avengers have 2 wins from seven games. The Avengers had started their campaign in a disastrous fashion as they lost 5 matches in a row before beating Far West United on Friday (December 30) to end their winless run.

Pokhara Avengers’ chase:

Chasing 128 to register their second successive win of Nepal T20 League 2022, Pokhara Avengers started well with the bat. Their openers Sumit Maharjan and Aasif Sheikh ensured that Avengers do not lose a quick wicket as they added 33 runs in 24 balls for the first wicket before the former departed for 13.

Aasif and Aarif Sheikh then further consolidated their team’s position. By the time the 10th over finished, Avengers were comfortably placed at 69 for 1 and needing only 59 runs from the final 10 overs.

Aasif and Aarif went on to share an unbeaten stand of 95 runs to take their team home in the 19th over. Aasif starred with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 77 off 62 balls with the help of 9 fours. Aarif, on the other hand, played the role second fiddle with perfection, scoring 26 off 37 balls.

Lumbini All Stars innings:

Earlier in the game, Pokhara Avengers came up with a splendid bowling display to bowl out Lumbini All Stars for a modest 127.

After deciding to bat first, the All Stars were off to a good start. Their openers Sunil Dhamala (15) and Harmeet Singh (38)  added 40 runs for the first wicket in less than 5 overs before Bipin Khatri struck on successive deliveries to remove the former and Kushal Bhurtel (0).

#NepalT20
Match 15 – Lumbini All Stars vs Pokhara Avengers
– Innings Summary pic.twitter.com/y2MhPc1rEB

— CAN (@CricketNep) December 31, 2022

Harmeet and Harry Tector then steadied the ship with a 24-run stand before Zahir Khan dismissed the former. And once Harmeet was dismissed, All Stars’ innings got derailed. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and never got the impetus to put up a good total.

By the time they reached the 100-run mark, they had already lost 6 wickets. They eventually huffed and puffed to 127. For the Avengers, Khatri and Zahir picked up 3 wickets apiece.

Nepal T20 League points table: