KATHMANDU, Dec 22: Biratnagar Warriors have won their third match of the tournament in three matches as they head to the top of the table with six points. Warriors defeated Chitwan by 71 runs in the eight match of the EPL 2017. Chitwan Tigers has lost all three matches so far in the tournament and languish in the bottom of the table with zero points in their account.
A nice little cameo by Bhim Sarki in the second half of the innings saved some grace for Chitwan Tigers from surrendering the match much earlier than they would have thought. He scored 24 runs from 20 deliveries with a six and a four to take Chitwan innings to 103 runs before getting all out in the penultimate over of the match. It was all about Biratnagar bowlers once they had record total on boards to defend. They won the match by runs.
Basant Regmi picked up four wickets in the match. Avinash Karn delivered a brilliant spell of seam bowling only conceding 20 runs in four overs and picked up two important wickets of Shabez Khan and Kamal Singh Airee who both looked threating in their small stay at the crease scoring a six each. Karan KC, Anshuman Rath, and Pushpa Thapa also chipped in with one wicket each.
Earlier, the fastest EPL fifty from just 25 balls completed by Babar Hayat, the Hong Kong Captain, powered Biratnagar Warriors to the highest total of the EPL 2017. Warriors scored 174 in their 20 overs for the loss of eight wickets. Praveen Gupta, from India, registered first 5-wicket-haul of the tournament which included a hat-trick in last over of the match.
The highlight of Babar Hayat’s 81 runs was 30 runs from Dipendra Singh Airee over in which Hayat smashed four back to back sixes. He scored total five fours and six sixes in his innings. The platform was laid by Anshuman Rath who once again looked solid opening the innings for Biratnagar side scoring 41 runs including five fours. Skipper Khadka made 16 runs that included two sixes towards the end of the innings.
Praveen Gupta was the pick of the bowlers registering first five-wicket haul of the tournament which included four wickets in the last over of the Biratnagar innings. He dismissed Anil Sah, Pranit Thapa, and Pushpa Thapa to complete the first hat-trick in the EPL history. Pramesh Kumar, another Indian recruit, chipped in with two wickets.
Babar Hayat was adjudged man of the match for his scintillating 81 runs.
Record-breaking Hayat powers Biratnagar to 174
Match Summary
Biratnagar Warriors 174/8 (20 Overs)
Babar Hayat 81 (42) 5 fours, 6 sixes
Anshuman Rath 41 (40) 5 fours
Parveen Gupta 4-0-23-5
Pramesh Kumar 3-0-25-2
Chitwan Tigers (Toss) 103 all out (18.2 Overs)
Bhim Sarki 24 (20) 1 four, 1 six
Basant Regmi 3.2-0-11-4
Avinash Karn 4-0-20-2
Biratnagar won the match by 71 runs.
