Nepal Premier League: Janakpur Bolts taste first defeat

Sudurpaschim Royals trounced Janakpur Bolts in the first match played today under the Nepal Premier League T20 Cricket Tournament. This is Janakpur's first defeat of the tournament.

The spinners of Sudurpaschim gave their best performance in the match held at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, clinching a 72-run victory for the team.

Janakpur Bolts, who were chasing a 124-run victory target posted by Sudurpaschim, scored only 51 runs in 12.1 overs at the loss of all wickets.

Janakpur and Sudurpaschim both have equal eight points from five matches so far.

No Janakpur Bolts players except Joshua Tromp could score runs in the double digits. Tromp hit the highest of 13 runs for Janakpur. 

Sudurpaschim's Harmit Singh, Dipendra Singh Airee and Ishan Pandey each took two wickets while Saif Zaib, Scott Kuggeleijn and Naren Saud took one wicket each to limit Janakpur to 52 runs.

Batting first after winning the toss, Sudurpaschim collected 123 runs in the allotted 20 overs at the loss of nine wickets.

Opener Binod Bhandari scored the highest 33 runs with the help of three fours and one six in 37 balls. Saib Zaib made 21 runs, Ishan Pandey 17 runs and Brandon McMullen 11 runs. Other players could not score runs in the double digits.

Kishor Mahato alone claimed four wickets for Janakpur. Similarly, Sher Malla and Araniko Yadav each took two wickets while Harsh Thakur took one wicket.