Lahiru Milantha played a strong, undefeated innings of fifty runs as Janakpur Bolts dominated Biratnagar Kings, winning by eight wickets in the first game of the debut Nepal Premier League T20 cricket competition at TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, in front of a full house on Saturday.
While chasing 128, Milantha scored an unbeaten 75 runs from 53 deliveries, hitting nine boundaries and three sixes as Janakpur successfully achieved the target with over four overs remaining, securing a significant victory.
Captain Anil Sah and Aasif Sheikh, who are both opening batsmen with a strong recent record for the national team, were dismissed early in the second over after scoring five and zero respectively.
However, Biratnagar did not experience any joy following that event.
The American and Canadian all-rounder Harsh Thaker, who is left-handed, calmed the team’s nerves by scoring 29 not out from 33 balls. He formed a crucial partnership of 116 runs (from 87 balls) for the third wicket, leading Janakpur from 15-2 to 131-2 in 15.3 overs.
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Lahiru is extremely experienced. I was certain that he would lead us to victory in the game. “Janakpur captain Sah mentioned that Harsh also performed well in batting alongside Lahiru,” during the presentation.
The only Biratnagar bowlers who were able to succeed against Janakpur were Chris Sole from Scotland and Pratish GC.
Earlier, Biratnagar was put in to bat first after losing the toss. Their experienced New Zealand opener Martin Guptill, with more than 122 T20I matches and over 3500 runs for his country, hit a half-century.
However, lacking substantial assistance from the opposite team, he was only able to lead his team to a total of 127 runs in 19 overs.
Eight players from Biratnagar failed to reach double digit scores, with Omani Aqib Ilyas contributing 15 runs off 18 balls, the second highest score of the innings.
Lalit Rajbanshi, a consistent member of the national team, displayed his skillful spin bowling by taking the wicket of opener Lokesh Bam with his first ball in 1.1 overs.
Ilyas and Guptill cooperated to develop the innings, scoring 47 runs for the second wicket before Mohammad Moshin from America dismissed Ilyas in 8.2 overs.
Thaker then became the main destroyer, dismissing Nicholas Kirton (9) lbw in 11.6 overs and following it up with the key wicket of Guptill in 13.6 overs, which put Biratnagar at a disadvantage.
Guptill hit seven boundaries and one maximum.
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Even though Biratnagar was in a strong position at 96-4 after Guptill left, their middle and lower order batters failed to capitalize on this as they lost the next six wickets for only 31 runs.
Following Rajesh Pulami’s dismissal for one run, Rajbanshi took two wickets in the 17th over by getting Pratis GC (2) and Basir Ahamad (7) out.
Kishore Mahato, who arrived to participate in the NPL from Australia, caused more harm by scoring another double (against Sandeep Lamichhane for seven runs and Jitendra Mukhiya for no runs) in the 18th over.
Ben Mike, the all-round English bowler, then ended the tail by getting rid of Chris Sole.
Sah also had high praise for the bowlers.
Kishore was excellent. Lalit is the player who wins matches for us. Moshin and Thaker performed admirably too. “It was beneficial for us,” Sah stated.
Our strategy was uncomplicated – ‘let’s stick to the fundamentals of cricket’. “That’s everything.”
Milantha was named the match’s standout player.
“I had a great time here. Fans are absolutely incredible.” Milantha described the ground’s atmosphere as pleasant.
“We remained composed. Harsh helped me out a lot.”
