KATHMANDU: Pokhara Rhinos defeated Bhairahawa Gladiators by seven wickets in the second qualifier match of the Everest Premier League (EPL) played at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur on Thursday. With today’s win, Pokhara Rhinos will play the final against Chitwan Tiger on Saturday.
Chasing the moderate 120-run target set by Bhairahawa, Chitwan reached the target in 18.2 overs by losing only three wickets.
Earlier, invited to bat first after losing the toss, Gladiators had set a target of 120-run to Pokhara Rhinos.
Though Pokhara missed two catches in the beginning, Bhairahawa could not take advantage of it. Rohit Poudel’s strike in the second ball of the game was saved by Bipin Rawal.
In the opening over, Rohit struck two sixes in 17 balls and was dismissed for 18 runs. Another opener from Bhairahawa, Pradip Airee, who played without Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal, was dismissed for 10 runs. Sri Lanka’s Upul Tharanga managed to score only 10 runs off 12 balls.
Bhairahawa was 51-5 in the 10th over after Malaysia’s Sharvin Muniandy was dismissed for 3 runs and Kushal Malla scored a single run.
Captain Sharad Bheshavkar and Arif Sheikh tried to improve the situation. Arif hit 1 four and 1 six off 24 balls and scored 27 runs.
Sharad hit 2 fours and 1 six in 33 balls and scored 32 runs while Dhammika Prasad scored 4 runs in 6 balls.
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