Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Madhesh Province and Sudurpashchim Province won their respective matches in the PM Cup Men’s National Cricket Tournament on Friday.
Madhesh defended a low score of 124 runs to defeat Lumbini by 25 runs, while Sudurpashchim beat Koshi by seven wickets with more than 30 overs remaining.
Madhesh vs Lumbini
Fielding first in Match No. 13 in Janakpur, Lumbini bowled out Madhesh for a paltry 124 runs in 38.1 overs. However, Lumbini were dismissed for 99 runs in 26 overs.
Only four batters reached double figures for Madhesh. Although fellow opener Anil Sah (1) fell cheaply, Mayan Yadav made 31 off 71 balls. Mohammad Aadil Alam scored 23 off 21 balls, while Pawan Sarraf made 19 and Arniko Yadav contributed 10.
Sandesh Thapa and Santosh Yadav claimed two wickets each for Lumbini, while Ajay Chauhan also took two, and Nirmal Gurung picked up one.
Chasing 125, Lumbini folded for 99. Sumit Shrestha top-scored with 30 off 34 balls. Sandesh Thapa made 16, while captain Dev Khanal and Santosh Yadav contributed 12 each. The rest of the Lumbini batters failed to reach double figures.
Bishal Patel took five wickets for Madhesh, while Pradip Paswan picked up two. Rupesh Singh, Mohammad Aadil Alam, and Aashik Baitha took one wicket each.
Koshi vs Sudurpashchim
Batting first in Match No. 14 in Birgunj, Koshi were all out for 130 runs. Sudurpashchim chased down the target in 19.5 overs, losing three wickets, with 181 balls to spare.
Shiwash Bajgain top-scored for Koshi with 25 off 50 balls. Suman Shrestha made 24, Dipesh Kandel scored 20, Firdosh Ansari added 18, and Shakib Haq chipped in with 15. The rest failed to reach double figures.
Hemant Dhami took four wickets to decimate Koshi, while Kiran Thagunna claimed two. Narayan Joshi and Saurya Shrestha took one wicket each.
Although Sudurpashchim lost openers Abhishek Pal (14) and Prakash Pandey (4) cheaply, Khadak Bohora scored 66 off 45 balls to guide the chase. Kiran Thagunna and Lokendra Chand remained unbeaten on 25 and 6, respectively.
Bipin Mahato picked up two wickets for Koshi, while Gyanendra Shrestha took one.
