APF clinches PM Cup Cricket Championship title

KATHMANDU: The Armed Police Force (APF) has clinched the title of the Prime Minister (PM) Cup T20 National Cricket Championship title. APF trounced Nepal Police Club by 21 runs to win the title in the final match held at the TU International Cricket Ground at Kirtipur on Wednesday. 

APF has bagged a cash prize of Rs 500 thousand with this victory. Nepal Police Club, which came in the second position, received Rs 300 thousand. 

APF had posted a 158 runs victory target before the Police. In reply, Police was confined to 136 runs losing their seven wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Dipendra Singh Airi pulled the highest number of runs, 65 runs, for the Police, which was not enough for a win. He made 65 runs with the help of three fours and two sixes in 54 balls.

Similarly, Dilip Nath made 23 runs, Aarif Sheikh 12 and Anil Saha 10 runs while the rest of the batsmen could not hit double-digit runs.  Gulshan Jha collected five runs, Rashid Khan made four runs, Amrit Shrestha made three runs and Yogendra Singh Karki made one run.

For the APF, Kishor Mahato took three wickets while Avinash Bohara, Amar Rautela and Deepak Bohara took one wicket each. 

Batting first after winning the toss before this, APF lost all its wickets in 19.5 overs and amassed 157 runs. Amar Rautela made the largest number of 29 runs. He hit three sixes and two fours in 15 balls. 

Similarly, Lokesh Bom made 27 runs, Sandeep Jora 24 runs and Captain Sharad Bheswakar made 19 runs and out. Likewise, Bhuwan Karki made 17 runs, Aasif Sheikh nine runs, Pradip Airi seven runs, Deepak Bohara made six runs and Puran  BK was ousted without making any run. Avinash Bohara was not out at one run while Kishor Mahato was out after making eight runs.

Towards bowling, Nepal Police Club's Dipendra Singh Airi and Sagar Dhakal took three wickets each while Gulshan Jha took two wickets. Similarly, Aarif Sheik and Yogendra Singh Karki took one wicket each.

APF had beaten Tribhuvan Army Club by 47 runs while Police had trounced Bagmati Province by 50 runs in the semi-final match. 

Ten teams, including three departmental teams and seven Province teams, had competed in the Championship that kicked off on January 10.